Still using 5 year old laptop as main system, if I'd win this card i'd build a small and cheap system around it so I can play Titanfall with my friends. Don't really have they money for something bigger anyway.Reply

My friend is building a new system to get back into PC gaming. Unfortunately we don't have much money, so he'd have to rely on using the APU for graphics. So getting this card would be a huge step up for him and definitely keep him gaming happily for much longer.Reply

The onboard graphics of my Home Theater PC just aren't cutting it anymore. It has an old Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 with 2GB of RAM. I'd like to use one of these for some light gaming and Blu-ray disc playback.Reply

This would go in my little media box. Currently I've got an old Athlon x3 in there and am using the integrated graphics to drive my projector. It mostly works, but I would like to be able to use it for a bit more than streaming video. Also, I would very much like it if I could consolidate cabling (because the integrated graphics don't support audio over hdmi...). I would use it for light gaming, (continued) media streaming, and demoing/testing research I do involving 3d models (for which I use OpenGL, which the integrated graphics don't support all the extensions I use)Reply

Currently have my workstation acting as a media server that sits behind my TV and using remote desktop. With this card I would actually hook it back up directly to the TV and play some games like the new Titanfall Beta since right now it only has the Sandy Bridge on-chip Intel graphics.Reply

We're migrating the wife to a desktop from her pitiful old laptop, which means the current media-computer will be her desktop, and we'll need a new one for Living Room use; I really like the idea of a Kaveri-based system, because it's a lower-cost, higher-GPU usage case. A Radeon R7 250 would be the perfect addition so that we could still do some pretty good gaming on our TV!Reply

This would be a fantastic price for me. I have a Athlon II X3 with integrated graphic and am thinking about upgrading to Kaveri sooner or later. An additional AMD graphic card such as this will be perfect for crossfire and will allow me to play some games which is something I haven't been able to do much with my current setup. Thank you, AMD and thank you anandtech!Reply

I have a Lenovo ThinkCentre M91p tower that greatly limits what can be installed - i7-2600 CPU (still respectable), 32GB RAM (run some VMware systems too), 1 x16 PCIe slot with a x1 PCIe adjacent to it - so a dual slot graphics card kills any reasonable expansion. The power supply is small, with no GPU power connectors - so a Radeon R7 250 would be as good as it gets for this system. No gaming, but I do have a 4K monitor connected (Radeon 5670 card for now), and run videos and Google Earth on the system.Reply

I've been pricing out an HTPC and trying to decide between integrated gpu or a cheap dedicated. It will mostly be a streaming/network storage machine, but with Steam in-home streaming, I may also play a few games on my tv. I've primarily been an NVIDIA user, and never felt comfortable spending money to try the "other side" because of mixed reviews about hardware quality and driver quality. With a cheap test unit I could find out if driver quality is as bad as forums make it out to be. Reply

I built a small computer for my best friend's mother last year. It was a Trinity based A10-5800K with a small SSD. I knew that she wouldn't be gaming much or downloading much (hence no HDD or discrete GPU), so I thought this would be the perfect fit for her. She is quite happy with the machine, but a little more graphical horsepower could go a long way to improving the few shortfalls it has.Reply

This would be for my 9 and 5 year olds shared computer. It is a Phenom II X4, 8GB ram and a 9600GT/ They are really quite limited on what they can play and at low resolutions/detail levels.I'm sure there are more deserving people out there, but the wee ones would love it.Reply

The R7-250 would be perfect for me, not for myself, but rather for a friend. During the past year, my entire friend group switched from console gaming to PC gaming. He is the last one to switch and unfortunately does not have a steady income. He has a prebuilt desktop with a decent Sandy Bridge quadcore i5 but running integrated graphics.

The R7-250, with its very low TDP and , as a result, no need for a PCIe power connector, is perfect for a prebuilt computer with a crappy power supply. This card would allow us all to play our games together without leaving him in the cold. He and all of our friends would appreciate this card and, when he inevitably moves on to a custom built computer, this 750 will move on to others in a similar situation.Reply

Just 2 days ago my son and I built his first computer together using an A10-7850k apu along with the new GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XN-WIFI itx motherboard complete with 8GB of 2400 DDR3. We used a node 304 case and modular CX500M powersupply. The case, PSU, and hard drive I had sitting around so he didn't need to buy those.

He drained his allowance to purchase the other components in hopes to play some of the newer games. I helped him select his components so he could have an upgrade ready system should he choose to spend future allowance on a new video card. Overall the system is pretty capable at 720p or lower res but he would love to play at 1080p and I think the r250 would be a fantastic addition to the system that would allow him to learn even more about computer hardware and configuration as well as enjoy 1080p through use of Dual Graphics. He only earns about $15 month allowance so it will be a while before he can afford this on his own.

Current system config: I've postponed rebuilding a desktop for 10 years! A newish ultrabook gets all the daily tasks done (lenovo t431s w/12gb RAM, samsung 840).Why this matters to me: Gaming on a laptop sucks!What I'd use it for: I'd rebuild my desktop around this card and use it for gaming, vm hosting, a home nas, and research (gpu intensive multithreaded applications)Reply

This card would serve as a replacement for the integrated graphics in an HTPC and TV-connected gaming computer(midrange gaming) system. The low TDP would be ideal for a smaller case and less ventilated cabinet. My current desktop gaming rig with a AMD Radeon 7870 includes a card that is too long and too(relatively) power hungry for this use.Reply

For a long time, I'd been using a repurposed, full tower gaming machine as my HTPC. I was really itchin to do a Mini ITX build, but was waiting for Kaveri to hit the market. I honestly haven't been as excited for a processor release since Sledgehammer. The combination of HSA and GCN 1.1 sounded completely revolutionary to me. I ended up buying the A10 7850K as soon as Micro Center got them in stock and built my dream HTPC around the Cooler Master Elite 130. I wanted a low power, compact system that could handle all sorts of media playback, including Blu-ray, and also be able to do some light gaming. I'm completely satisfied with the IGP's performance, but the addition of an R7 250 would extend the gaming performance even further, while still keeping power consumption relatively low. The only thing that confuses me though is that Oland is based on GCN 1.0, unlike Kaveri. Does that mean I'd lose True Audio when running Crossfire? Wouldn't Bonaire be a better match since its the same architecture and supports XDMA? I really wish there was more extensive information about Dual Graphics.Reply

I just rebuilt some old parts into a decent machine for my 10 year old son, but it's using the integrated graphics on a i3 530 and I think this is causing some issues, especially if overclocking the CPU. Would love to get a decent discrete card for his machine, he wants to start running some simple games and a R7 250 would be a perfect fit!Reply

Interesting - a giveaway I'm safely out of the market for, since my laptop GT 750M is probably faster, and has two displayport outputs. while the R7 250 appears to have none. That'd be a touch review to spin positively, free hardware or no.Reply

What I am looking at doing is building a PC using parts from several other old PC builds for my 8 year old son to start using. He is interested in computers and wants to learn, but the system still lacks a couple of pieces. One of which is a graphics card (the other is a HDD if you wanted to throw that in too ;-) ). I would use it to teach him the basics of building a pc and then let him learn to type, teach him some basic programming, and of course play some games.Reply

Please enter me in the contest.I am planning a new build to help teach my daughter about computers. I am interested in a value type of video card to keep energy use low (in a mini-Itx form factor), provide some gaming muscle at 1080p, and perhaps serve HTPC duty. I can provide several paragraphs of build description and run some requested benchmarks. Thanks!Reply

My goal is to put this card in a Mini-ITX system with a Kaveri A8-7600. This system will be used both for OpenCL compute development (HSA looks really promising), but also as a Steam OS platform for living room gaming. Reply

My wife has a business in Second Life, and her business partner has a 9800gt and needs an upgrade. I don't know if she has a pci-e power lead from her PSU, so we were actually thinking of buying a 250 anyway.Reply

Just moved into my first home and still working out my media needs. I definitely want an HTPC that doubles as a light gaming machine, which I am in the process of building. Been holding out on the CPU/GPU front to see where APU and discrete cards go, and it looks like something like this card would be perfect.Reply

After a collaborative high-performance mini-ITX build with an NCASE M1 for my twin brother (crowd-funded enthusiast chassis) I've found that it's a bit extreme for my own HTPC ambitions. I don't need to go nearly so small and I don't need anything near that level of performance. After that build was complete I began looking for something that suits our unused SilverStone micro-ATX HTPC chassis.

The recent news of the Maxwell nVidia GTX 750 had me intrigued about the possibilities of a small, capable, "good enough" system that perfectly suits an HTPC, until I read about how poorly it stacks up in value compared to AMD's offering. I am extremely curious in the dual graphics/CrossFire angle as that is something the GTX 750 is missing.

My twin brother works for the local cable company so we have collected to a ton of HTPC equipment for our various systems. We literally had to build a shelf just for all our HTPC CableCARD tuners and other equipment. That angle will be explored thoroughly!

I should also mention that although my writing style may be bland I pride myself on my technical writing and ability to communicate the details.

well mi current video card is stuck with it fan at 100% so it is kind of annoying so i would like to get a quieter card, also i can test out the 2 different configurations and test their diference and how much of and improvement ther is.

also im plannig on building an APU system if i get a kaveri APU i would crossfire them Reply

I am using a Dell optiplex 7010. It has 4GB of RAM and a decent 500 GB HDD. Its connected to a 17in 1280x1024 monitor

This little PC has a lot of oomph in the CPU department but it's seriously lacking when it comes to heavy lifting in the graphics department. I play some games whenever I can on their lowest setting and for the most part it gets the job done.

Recently I started playing Kerbal Space Program and the game is a blast but even with all the settings set to low it takes a lot of patience to launch a rocket into space. My son has been joining me and we have an absolute blast. I started talking to him about space and science. He really enjoys it but it just kills me that I can't show him more from this little desktop.I know it's only a game but when I get home from work my son always ask me if we can play the "Space Game" and we spend an hour or two bouncing around some moon or trying to launch one his crazy designs. Really, you should see what he comes up with.

Anyway, I think the R7 250 would allow us to increase the graphic fidelity and enjoy the game more and help speed up the process of launching (or trying to launch) some of our designs. Reply

My younger brother (13) has been getting into PC gaming recently. I helped him build a computer last year and he is using my old 5670 which is starting to show its age. He has been asking me how to go about picking a new card but I don't think he is wanting to spend the money. I am sure this would be quite the boost for him.Reply

Building My first gaming PC. Have a small Budget and I'm really looking to get the most bang for the buck. So far I have the AMD Athlon X4 750k with the ASUS A55M-E board, a Thermaltake 550w power supply and 4 gigs of Corsair ram. I still need to figure out the Hard drive and video card. I also picked up a NZXT Source 210 case. I think this card would be a great start for me and really help this machine to get off the ground. Reply

I could totally use a new GPU. I think I'm buying my first 1440p monitor this year. With a strong possibility of a second to have dual 1440p bad boys. I could definitely use a powerful GPU and purchase a second to push those puppies.Reply

My 6 year old is running 3570K with an AMD 6670, this would be a nice upgrade for his minecraft activities. He loves building things and recently had to show me his Apple Store he created. I didnt know he even knew what an Apple store was!Reply

Oh, I should've read the requirements.I have a dual socket opteron workstation (16 core, 24gb ram) running an Nvidia GeForce 210 card. It is capable for my 2D work, but not having great experiences when I do game a bit. I'm on linux, and the nvidia support is decent, I'd be curious to try AMD for once. Reply

My current PC setup is an AMD FX-8350 with a reference Sapphire r9 290x, but that's not what I'd be using this card for. I need this r7 250 because one of the qty (6) r9 270s I bought for my Altcoin mining rig was DoA and needs to be sent back. I'd use this r7 250 in my farm and see how it hashes and figure out what one could expect from using it and see if it would be a profitable card based on MSRP, compute power, and power consumption, then report back with my findings to Anandtech and AMD.Reply

I'm working on a little HTPC/steambox which this video card will be great for. It does't have to be the most powerful in the world,. just something that will stream video from a NAS as well do some light gaming from Steam.Reply

This would make a great upgrade for my wife's desktop PC. Currently it has a Phenom X3 CPU, 4gb of DDR3, and a GeForce 9600GT GPU. The older case only has 80mm fans, so it would be nice to simultaneously increase gaming performance and reduce heat load inside the case.Reply

I would like to use this for my father's computer. He has an AMD Athlon X4, 8GB RAM, and a 1TB HDD. Some of what he is trying to do graphically is too taxing without dedicated graphics. This card would be a great addition for his current setup. Reply

If I did win the GPU, it wouldn't be for me. I have a friend with an ancient and recently non functional PC that he can't afford to replace. I'd like to help him out, but shelling out the cash to build him a new one from scratch is a bit silly. The GPU would be a nice place to start, probably paired with a Kaveri processor and try out crossfire with it.Reply

An R7 250 would be a replacement for my wife's 9800GT, an aging card that is struggling to run World of Warcraft these days. I'd be happy to write a review on the card, especially if it's a freebie!Reply

This would go in my new media center. Currently using an old laptop in there and am using the integrated graphics to drive my projector. It mostly works, but I would like to be able to use it for a bit more than streaming video. I would use it for light gaming in addition to media streaming.Reply

I'm building a small mini-atx spare parts PC for the living room, and the extra video card I have is a behemoth radeon 4850 x2 that has zero chance of fitting into the case (plus it's loud and runs hotter than the sun). This wee little guy would solve my problem and usher in a new era of living room gaming.Reply

Currently, my primary system is an old Compaq laptop that I received from the Nvidia recall a few years ago, not the most powerful needless to say. My desktop system has been sitting idle for the past 6 months waiting for a new power supply. As soon as Friday hits, I'll be ordering a new one from Newegg. Sitting in the cart with the power supply is a r7 250 that I'm trying to convince the wife that I need. I hope to replace my 4830 with it and get a year or so out of my rig(core 2 duo 2.4 ghz overlooked to 3, 4gb of ram, 4 terabytes of miscellaneous hard drives, and 60gb Intel ssd) before passing it on to my kids and building a new one. I've wanted to play around with some opencl programming for fun but not had any system fully capable since I've started learning about it. The system is mainly used for gaming, composing, and my various programming hobbies that I waste time with. The card would more than likely help with the gaming more than anything and my wife would definitely approve of me not spending 90 bucks. Reply

I've always been interested in trying AMD Dual Graphics with my APU. However, low-end GPUs are often priced way to high for the performance they offer (compared to 7790 / R7-260X) and I've heard problems with stuttering. If I win, I'd be able to freely broaden my horizon into this facet of tech. More than happy to share my experience, hopefully the AMD frame-pacing driver updates have improved the Dual Graphics performance.Reply

I have a friend that had his graphics card die on him, and he is running on CPU alone. He has a computer with a Phenom II X6, so their isn't even any IGP to fall back on. He uses his computer for video editing, and is also an avid gamer, although he mostly plays indie games (Super Meat Boy, Fez, etc.) His GPU has been dead for months now, and because of that video editing has become slower, and more tedious, and he has lost interest in gaming because his computer can not handle games without a graphics card, and he can no longer watch Blu-rays on it either. He is on a very limited budget, as he is living just above his means, and is supporting his mother as well, and the one time he had the money he used it on video equipment (he aspires to be a filmmaker.) I feel that this GPU would work great for him, as it would definitely speed up his video editing software, and it is more than sufficient to play his collection of indie games.Reply

I currently use a Radeon HD 5450 on a older Dell Pentium D 945 system for my HTPC. It works great at 720p, but struggles with 1080p programming. I think it is more because the existing video card is passively cooled with a rather small heat sink, and running a 1080p video is causing it to heat up too much. I am sure the older processor doesn't help much either, but the system was free!

I believe that even a low-end modern GPU would overcome the limitations of the processor, and allow full 1080p without issue. Maybe even open up the system for more? I think I will be fine with the fan, as it shouldn't add much noise (I live on a busy street, so some fan noise won't be much of a distraction while watching shows!)Reply

I currently use a home-built PC with a Core i7 920 CPU, 12MB RAM, and a fanless Radeon 6450 powering a 30" ZR30W monitor at 2560x1600. I'm planning to upgrade to a lower-power PC soon.

I use my current PC for heavy photo editing, HD video (including over-the-air TV through a TV tuner), and some older games such as Portal 2 and Starcraft 2.

Although the 6450 is a great little card, it's sometimes inadequate for my large monitor. Besides requiring low settings in games, resizing video windows or playing Blu-Ray movies at 2560x1600 can cause the card to stutter.

If I was given an R7 250 I would see how it improves the computing experience of my current PC. In addition, when I upgrade to an Intel (sorry) Haswell or Broadwell chip I would review it as a cheap upgrade to their integrated graphics.Reply

I'm planning on building a system soon. Deciding on how much I want to spend, but with this, I can make a small ITX system that I can use to play games on my TV when I want or I can use as a desktop for general tasks like web browsing and some League of Legends.Reply

Hello, I taught my brother in law how to build a computer from my spare parts. It's currently an Athlon X3 2.9ghz with 4ghz of RAM and a 4670 graphics card. He's been struggling in and out of school and with depression so I wanted to get him some valuable experience that he could actually apply so I gave him these parts if he would learn to build the system. He built it and enjoyed the process and now I've managed to get him into computer science classes at the junior college. This GPU would go into his rig. He enjoys some MMOs and other online games where he can interact with people online as he doesn't really have any friends in real life due to his depression.Reply

I'm currently working to get my girlfriend interested in computers and to that end have been showing her how to assemble one based on old parts my brother and I had in my mom's attic. This has left us with an 8800gt that is too big for the only case available so we have had to jerry rig it into the system by removing all the hard drive cases. Looking at this card it seems to be a more likely fit for the system and could hopefully see her actually finish the project.Reply

Well, I've got an ancient system here which I just "upgraded" from the famous Pentium D 805 to a more efficient Core2Duo E4300 i got off eBay for a cool 10 bucks.

The graphics side of this thing always sucked. At first i wanted to go with chipset graphics, which was a laughably bad VIA chip. Seeing this thing not being able to even push a cheap 900p display, i also "upgraded" this part to an insanely powerful GeForce 7100GS. Yes.While this card is at least able to drive my display at native resolution, watching even SD-Youtube videos fullscreen is the anti-thesis to a fluid experience. I won't even mention gaming. There is no gaming.

I've been thinking about upgrading the graphics for years, but in the end i've always been too cheap to invest another 50 bucks for another bad GPU.

With a new R7 250 all my Youtube worries would be solved in an instant and even light gaming would be in the realm of possibilities. For sure, this card would be a godsend for an aging system like mine.Reply

I just finished building a HTPC using a A10-7700K Kaveri, with a MSI A88XM-E45 motherboard and 8 GB RAM. For the most part Kaveri's GPU does a decent job for everyday HTPC use scenarios. However, I run into a bit of trouble when I use some of the advanced features in madVR. I was thinking of supplementing the system with a dedicated R7 GPU utilizing the CrossFire functionality.

On the plus side this could turn into a HPTC/Gaming machine with CrossFire enabled, so lets hope I win this thing so I don't have to buy the GPU! Reply

I am building a HTPC for downstairs, looking for an ITX setup with low power/heat/noise. A video card like this that I can run just off the PCIe power and no big blower works great for just watching movies and playing couch coop games off steam like Dungeon Defenders or Tomb Raider Guardian of Light. This would give me a great excuse to spend a little extra for an A10-7800 or 7850K too.Reply

I'm currently using AMD integrated graphics, the 890GX solution with the sidechannel memory. For the time it was a perfectly fine way to get graphics for small dollars, but it doesn't have the grunt to do high-end 2D video processing or any GPU computing. That would be the job of a dedicated card.Reply

My current is a AMD 640 Athlon II 3.0 Ghz with MB based graphics. Its ok for older games but not so much for anything since 2011 or so. I really need a upgrade for this home computer and this GPU would be astounding!Reply

My family has an old Dell system lying around that would really benefit from this card. It was a pretty typical budget system from the mid-2000s that we picked up to replace an old AMD system with a 700MHz Athlon. For a time, I used the system for gaming, and then, as they tend to do over time, the system just became too slow without the proper graphical support. The CPU is a Brisbane AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ at 1.9GHz. The graphics are in the form of an integrated nvidia GeForce 6150 located on the generic Dell GeForce chipset motherboard. Because of the integrated graphics, I upgraded the RAM to 3GB from 2GB to give the system some extra memory to play with. The system has a 160GB HDD for storage and a DVD-Burner for an optical drive. The power supply is whatever generic PSU that Dell just threw in there, so I know that while it can't handle a whole heck of a lot of power draw, it should be able to handle the R7 250 just fine. Not only that, but I know for a fact that the PCIe x16 slot on the board is free. If this card were added to be used instead of the on-board graphics, I have a feeling that the system would be able to play much newer titles without looking like a slideshow and would likely extend its life.

At the moment, if I were to be selected for receiving this card, I would use the newly-upgraded system to try some of the newer games out there and also perhaps see if I can't figure out how to try my hand at attempting to mine Bitcoins. At the very least, it might prove to be an interesting experience! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to try for one of these cards!Reply

I have a gutted system laying around... Processor, mobo, and a few other pieces. Just missing RAM and a video card. This would motivate me to put together a small media-centric PC and probably allow me to drop my cable bill.

I've got a watercooled I5-3570k with an intel ssd hdd, but running a 3 monitor setup off the built in graphics and 8800gts 640mb. This would be the graphics update I keep pushing off for something better. Reply

My system is fairly old, featuring a socket 1155 Core i7 clocked at 3.4GHz, 4GB of RAM, WIN7 Pro, 4 HDDs in RAID 10 + a SSD, and dual screen 1920x1080 24" monitors. My current GPU is a 9600GT in which the fan bearing is going out... it makes a loud, dreaded clicking noise whenever my computer is on. If I won this GPU, it would allow me to keep my computer on 24x7 (like I used to before my fiancee threatened to leave me if I didn't stop that awful clicking noise) :)Reply

Well my PC if from 2008. I'm not sure this little guy will beat out the pair of 8800GTs i have next to the E8500 and 8gigs of ram. I'm guessing things might look better but run slower honestly. It would be a close call since the 8800GTs run pretty nice still. Reply

I just put together a pair of AMD A10-7850k HTPC's with 8gb (DDR3-2133) RAM, SSD for OS, 3tb drive for video storage. The base is an Asus A88XM-A motherboard and topping it off is a 4-tuner PCI-E Cablecard TV Tuner. We use this for a mix of gaming on a 50" TV and watching/recording TV. Would love to use this card in Dual Graphics in order to bump up the performance. I am also interested in using it as a SteamBox in the future as well.Reply

My wife and i have a small ITX system in the livingroom. The case it is in only has 1 expansion slot which limits the grapgic card choices. I like the ITX form Factor and im looking to build a new PC with an equally small footprint as the little shuttle case we have. This should be a pretty good upgrade from a HD6570.Reply

The computer I built for my parents is from 2007 but still going strong with its socket AM2 Phenom X2 processor but the Radeon 4670 is the one really showing its age. I'd love to be able to upgrade the GPU on that computer if possible.Reply

I have an older Intel based i3 socket 1156 that has a Nvidia GT 640. This would replace that. Honestly, I'd like the True Audio and GCN 1.1. We game on that system at 1280x1024 resolution, so this would work that nicely. So if I was paying those would be features I would be shopping for.

My machine is ancient. It has an AMD CPU (unfortunately not a Kaveri APU). And it has an old power hungry nVidia GPU powering the display. Don't let that poor AMD CPU continue communicating with a power hungry nVidia GPU!Reply

So I have a couple of different systems, the main one this would be suited for would be a Home Media Center that I would like to do a bit of gaming on. Currently I have Pentium D 930 (a bit aged processor) and I forget what the old graphics card is, but it pulls a lot more than 65watts, and produces so much heat that it warms the office up in about 5 minutes. I would love to replace that card with something that could do better 1080p, and would run much cooler and quieter, like this card.Reply

Id like it because it'd be cool to test and more importantly, my kids machines are aging and they could use a low power beast under the hood to get them up to snuff again. One has a HD 4890 and the other has a 560ti. ThanksReply

I just assembled a mini ITX system with an i5 processor and currently am using on-board video.I don't have a lot of space, power or money for a big graphics card and was planning to add a cheap graphics card.This is just in time, I guess I can wait for the results of this sweepstakesReply

I actually recently gutted and upgraded my NES PC (my little mini-itx desktop housed in an old NES that lives under my Tv) with an A10-7850k. A substantial improvement over the old e-350 Bravos setup I was using, albeit, now with a good bit more heat generated.

Although it's certainly a more powerful system than I previously had, I was ideally hoping to come close to matching the power of the current gen (ps4/xbox one) consoles, but find it falling shorter than I would have hoped. I would love to try adding in the 250 gpu in crossfire to presumably surpass the consoles in graphical prowess. The only question is, will it fit without heavily disrupting the lovely aesthetics of the NES..... I do have some ideas with regards to 16x pci riser cables....

Anyway, I'd love the card and the option of providing feedback on its crossfire abilities with an A10-7850k cpu to AMD, and would be delighted to also pen an article for you guys on my little NES PC / Steam Box in the process.Reply

Currently I'm using an emachines computer that we originally bought for my wife's office. It's got a single core AMD processor and I dropped an HD5450 in it a couple years ago. Needless to say it is extremely limited in what games I can play. I think the 250 would be a great upgrade for my computer. It would allow me to play a lot more, but not be ridiculously overpowered compared to the rest of the system.Reply

Since AMD acquired ATI I've been hesitant to purchase any of their products - the constant changing of the naming schemes hasn't been any help either. Currently I have a QX6700 with an 8600GTS which functions as a workstation/gaming machine. At one point I did have a I7 2600k with an 8800GTX but I gave the CPU/Motherboard to a co-worker who needed the computational power more than I. Since I mostly use my current computer as a workstation, I've resisted installing the massive 8800GTX. The 8800GTX is power hungry even at idle and wouldn't fit well with my occasionally gaming. That said, the 8600GTS has been disappointing in my adventures with Marvel's Lego Super Heros game.

While I'm not sure the R7 250 is as powerful as the 8800GTX, it is a large improvement from the 8600GTS, more power efficient than both and supports Photoshop's 3D requirements. The R7 250 would satisfy my desire for a more power efficient system,a better gaming experience and accessing all the 3D rendering features of Photoshop. Reply

My PC is still rocking nVidia 8800 GTS 640MB cards. They don't even have h.264 acceleration, so My PC can't even play high quality HD video or HD Youtube videos. Also it struggles to play any recent games, even on lowest settings. I could definitely use a new AMD card. Reply

This would be added to an older system currently serving as an HTPC front end. It would enable some light gaming for things better suited to a larger screen with a controller (racing games, console ports). This was my original system but was migrated to this role as I replaced parts.

My current setup is an HP Probook 4430s(Celeron) and a Dell XPS 400(with extra hard drives) so I am pretty much unable to game at the moment. I was in the middle of upgrading to a current setup(bought the RAM, case, PSU etc.) before I realized my dad needed a new computer for his office so I built him one for his birthday using those parts.It would be neat to put this card into my XPS 400 for the time being as it would make me able to game at least a little bit before being bottlenecked by the CPU and I would put it into the new system I would like to build in a month or so when my finances are in order. Reply

I am currently running a PC I built almost 6 years ago. It is a Core2Duo 2.3Ghz, overclocked to just over 3Ghz. I have a 9800GT video card (OC as well) so gaming is limited to medium-high detail, depending on the game. I have yet to fid a game it can't play but some games I have to knock down settings more. Still, I play everything I want - Rig works real well. I keep saying I want to upgrade it but can never pull the trigger. I keep thinking I should build a new computer but this one is running so well, and is really just a video card away from playing high detail and new games. By getting this card, I can stretch the life of this machine by another year or two, allowing me to save up and build a really nice rig then.

I have an old EP45-UD3P with a Sapphire 4870 (PCI Express2.0); the R7 250 is compatible even though it is PCI Express3.0, so even if I get a new CPU and/or motherboard it will be transferable.I play games so the extra graphics poser will be welcome!Reply

To replace my old 6570, stepping up some do do something like Civ V on multi monitors. System is a AM3+ 970 with an Phenom II x6 and 16GB. It's good for chess analysis, but I'd enjoy doing a large game map thing like Civ V on multiple monitors smoothly.Reply

Need this for my office desktop where surround sound is not an option. The university office desktop is a Core i5, 500gb HDD, 8Gb Ram Dell Optiplex. I use it for simulations, CAD, CAM and occasionally some encoding.Reply

So, I currently have a home server/htpc setup. I'm running an AMD A10 7850, Asus A88X Mobo, 16GB Crucial 1866 RAM, 3 1TB Hard drives, 1 120GB Samsung Evo, and Ubuntu 13.10 server. What I would like to have this card for is to plug it in and use IOMMU on the processor to pass it through to a KVM instance of SteamOS. This would allow me to test a few things, first I would be able to see if the IOMMU tables are working for this board to be able to pass a PCI-E device through. The second is that it would allow me to test SteamOS running at pretty much native speed for things like streaming from my primary desktop, different game input devices, overall system stability as a VM, and HDD speed when running as a virtual disk and maybe adding another disk in and passing that through to the VM natively as well.Reply

Please enter my name in the drawing. Current state of my nephew's system is, Athlon X2 4200+, 2GB RAM, Windows XP SP3, 250W PS, Nvidia 7800 GT and 19" flat panel. He loves playing games with me through Steam but can't play a lot of titles I play; he is 15 and does not have much money (well none really so I am helping him out), I think this would be perfect for his computer! I sure hope we win!Reply

I'd use this card to upgrade the 6570 in a media PC I built for the sci-fi class my friend teaches. They use this computer daily to analyze abstract ideas found in episodic series like The Twilight Zone and movies like The Matrix.Reply

I have a Dual core intel (Core 2) chip on a pretty good asus Mobo, 3.5 gb ram and a raptor 80GB (72 actually) 7200 rpm non-sata HDD and currently a 3400 ati video card, It is the second machine in the house and in general use as much as the primary machine (a HP amd/ati setup) and will be able to give a good comparison in games (statagey, tatical and even FPS ((older ones)) games) as we all game together here including my nephew lugging over his box instead of being remoteReply

I have a SFF PC in a Lian Li case that I build about 3 years ago. I'm only using the IGP on a Core-i3 and it's getting harder and harder to play new-ish games on the lowest settings. I want to get back into more serious gaming, but my graphics power is limiting me. I'd really love to try out a small descrete card like this and get my tiny PC juiced up enough to play some newer titles.Reply

I actually have two setups that could benefit from a new video card. The desktop (Phenom II 840) had an old Radeon 4870 whose fan seized up a month or so ago, and is now running on integrated graphics. I also have a newer HTPC/light gaming setup, with a core i5-4670 and a GeForce 9800. This card would probably be more suitable for HTPC/light gaming use than the older GeForce.Reply

I'd use it to replace the 9800GT in an old machine to use as a Steam Machine. It's got a Core 2 Duo e8400, 4 GB of RAM, 500 GB hard drive, the only thing it needs is a more modern graphics card so it can hook up to a TV. I'd love to use an AMD card for that!Reply

I'm an avid AMD fan. If I won this, There's two things I'd test out with this card.

1) I, I have an HTPC sitting in the basement that isn't used much. It has an older Phenom II/4gb ram, but the graphics card is weaksauce. With this card, I would could use it for living room gaming! It would be nice to see how well it works with large MKV files and for transcoding.

2. Depending on the gaming, it would also be nice would take it to beef up my Son's "gaming" computer. It's another older Phenom II box but needs a new GPU badly. It's not in the same category, but it'd be great to see how it compares to my 3+year old HD6970.

Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie! I'd love to play with this and post my thoughts.Reply

as a lower power board, this would be a good upgrade for my HTPC - it has a 4350 air cooled radeon card in it now, but since I also use the machine for doing World Community Grid research, a faster GPU will help.The PC has an intel core 2 2.2 Ghz cpu, several SSDs and a mirrored pair of older 2 Tb Seagate Hds, running windows 7 with windows media center and Ceton Cable Tuner. Reply

I have a low end system with an i3-2120 running on integrated HD 2000 graphics. It's my daily machine for all my work as a college student (I live off instant ramen noodles so don't make fun of my horribly spec'd computer). I like having dual monitors for productivity but the integrated graphics will often struggle on windows 8's start screen in a two monitor setup (both 1600x900 res). So if I am lucky enough to win, it would be a huge upgrade from the iGPU for my setup, and the added potential for light gaming is nice as well.Reply

If chosen, I would put the Radeon R7 250 in my HTPC:The system is an old socket AM2 Athlon X2 5000+ with a GeForce 210.

Right now, it doesn't quite have the oomph to keep up with my installation of XBMC on Windows 7 (x64). It can handle the stock skin just fine, but with skins like Aeon, the GUI lags a little and stutters in some transitions. I have used more powerful video cards in it to see if I was GPU constrained and it definitely is the case, but leaving my old 8800GTX in my HTPC is out of the question.

An AMD R7 250 would give me that upgrade I seek without being such a power hog. I could also extend the abilities of my HTPC beyond just watching movies and listening to music. With an R7 250 I would be able to play some light games on my TV and have a better overall experience.Reply

Am running an AMD Athlon X2 setup with an older Nvidia 260; however, the system at idle consumes around 160W, never mind at load. A newer more efficient video card like the R7 250 should help that a bit and keep my small office cooler.Reply

I have a older workstation based on an Intel Core2 Extreme CPU Q6850 @ 3.00GHz that still meets my needs, except for the tired old NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS video card. It woud sure be nice to upgrade this system and extend its life.Reply

Bought an HP computer a couple years ago, and I never dreamed I'd get into gaming. Now here we are, a passionate itch for playing games, a Radeon HD 6450, and no money :( This is because, for some reason, my dad bought me an ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 mobo for Christmas. This goes really well with my i5-2300, but my GPU is still underpowered. I'd really love this for some light gaming like BF4, Titanfall, PlanetSide 2, Loadout, etc. and this card looks perfect, as I don't have much money, so I would rather not have to buy a new PSU to get a new GPU.

I bought an FM2+ motherboard and a cheap non-APU Richland processor (Athlon X2 370) several months ago for a machine that is mostly desktop use, with occasional light gaming. My intention was to put a Kaveri APU in when they came out, but now I'm trying to decide whether that really makes sense or not. Dual crossfire is definitely a consideration, but I’m a little uncertain where I want to go at this point.

Currently this box has two video cards, a 6770 and a 5450, driving 3X 1920x1200 24" monitors. The plan is to put the 6770 into my 6 year old son's AM3 machine that used to occupy this desk (Phenom II 555BE, 3rd core unlocked, slight overclock, old HD4000 series video card that used to be where the 5450 was before the drivers were moved to legacy status and things got borked), and buy an A10-7850K and give the dual crossfire a whirl. It would probably meet my needs for this box, but I’m just having trouble convincing myself.

Oh, I own about 5000 shares of AMD stock that I refuse to take the loss on, if someone wants to add that to the consideration list of why I should win something nice from AMD. :)Reply

I want to build a nice mini-ITX box so that I can get back into photo editing - I have a daughter on the way and I want to get ahead of that curve! A decent graphics card is a key part of that, and I'm looking for quality that won't take up half the budget. And, ok, I might have some interest in firing up a starfighter or Titan occasionally :)Reply

My current secondary system is a small form factor with a hd4550 GPU. Needless to say this cant really do much of anything , so i really need this card! I use this system for work and some light gaming. I would love to do something a bit more complex on this system.Reply

Anand! I could really use one or two of this for a machine I'm building to run atmospheric dynamics simulations. Parts of the code will be run on the CPU cores and other parts on these AMD GPU's (in OpenCL) which are great at computing! I'd love one of these puppies for the good of science!Reply

Well I have a case/supply and an older 2500K - trying to build up a system for graphics/music production.I would mainly explore the limits of the card with programs like photoshopCC but also Autodesk Fusion360, Max/MSP/Jitter, VVVV, Touch Designer, Houdini, Sculptris, etc.. but also might come in handy for some gaming through Steam.

You can be sure of some midnight experimenting with Apophysis + Visions of Chaos as well ;)Reply

I currently have an A8 4-core system that has only 4GB of RAM and no discreet graphics card. I'm using it as a HTPC and plex/media server/file storage and light gaming. I upgraded to an SSD for the OS, but I can tell that the bottleneck in the system is with having to share memory with the main system. A cheap discreet graphics card is just what I need!Reply

Oops, sorry, I posted this without reading the instructions. This would go in an i3-530 based HTPC that is running on integrated graphics. It would allow me to improve the video capabilities of the machine considerably and to play arcade-type games such as Need for Speed that are much more enjoyable with a gamepad on a big-screen TV. I am VERY sensitive to noise also so I would love to evaluate this card from the noise/performance benefit perspective as well.Reply

I'm a developer, and a lot of my work happens on a laptop these days. But I still rely on my desktop for both work and play. My current desktop is built around a Phenom II X4 910, a Radeon HD 4670, and a 1080p IPS monitor. For most tasks it gets the job done just fine. There are two areas, however, where more GPU compute power would make a big difference:

1. I do occasional 3D scene rendering with LuxRender. Anyone who's read an AnandTech GPU review in the last couple years knows that AMD's GCN architecture excels at LuxRender. Having access to an R7 250 would be a big boost. Most of my render jobs are simple scenes, so the 1GB VRAM is not a limitation in my case.

2. Gaming. I mostly play RTS and sim games. Titles like Civ V would be a lot more playable with the new card. And Mantle support will no doubt prove useful for future titles.

Thanks for putting on this contest! Looking forward to writing my review.Reply

I am currently using the integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics on my i7-2600k. It comes in handy for editing videos using Quick Sync, but obviously is lacking in many other areas. I've been wanting to get an inexpensive discreet GPU for some time. This would a great opportunity for me to finally stop using my integrated graphics! I would use the R7 250 for light gaming (my daughter loves Minecraft). I would also like to be able to use the GPU for Photoshop acceleration and to improve the overall quality of the graphics on my system.Reply

A AMD R7 250 would be perfect for my rig, which is basically 4 years old and has an HD 5850 chugging alongside an AMD Athlon II X4 620, both undervolted. My hope PC is being used as an HTPC, and the R7 250, with its excellent power characteristics, would serve much better than my current setup, the HD 5850.Reply

I have the perfect machine for it. little quad core microatx system with g31 graphics.. only you can save me from the occasional flash game which turns into a slide show when I try to scroll the mapReply

I really want to win the card for my friend who is in despite need of a new PC but has had a hard time getting the money for one. I've told him I would help him any way I can but I also am scraped for cash. I just think that if I was able to win this for him it would mean the world to him.Reply

I have an OEM system that I can't upgrade the power supply, so I look for power/performance video cards to update that system. It has a powerful CPU, but right now it has a 5670 in it, so this would be an upgrade and would fit within the power budget. I do some gaming on it and run multiple screens at the same time. Not while gaming, though.Reply

I am looking to replace my mothers emachine that is very outdated as a gift and was looking at a r7 250 or possibly a hd 7750 as the video card for her to use.

She doesn't do much with it other then some facebook games such as candy crush and $400 in parts would be more then enough for her for a few years and saving on the video card would help make the machine even better as I could use the money elsewhere in it.Reply

I currently have a simple server working as a NAS, but I'd like to upgrade it to an HTPC. An R7-250 would let me hook the system up to my TV and have a pretty passable 720p gaming and 1080p media experience, which the server-grade integrated graphics can't do.Reply

Approximately 15 years ago I built my first computer; that's how I got my start in the tech field. I currently have a Dell Vostro 420, which I bought back in 2008, I think. I decided to upgrade the parts by scavenging parts from old PCs at work (can't afford a new build currently). So far I've upgraded the RAM to 8GB DDR2, added a Solid State Drive, Upgraded the CPU from a Dual Core E7300 to a Dual Core E8400. I planned on buying a Radeon R7 250x when they become available, but would love a free R7 250 instead :)Reply

I'd love to finally part ways with my laptop with the interest in building an inexpensive AMD rig. If I were to win this I'd crossfire it with a well-cooled APU in hopes of gaming fairly well at 1080p. The possibility of experiencing the developments of Mantle is also a plus, along with the AMD Rewards program. Reply

I built a mini ITX system that I'd like to set up in our living room to use for casual gaming and as a HTPC (and maybe even as a NAS), eventually replacing the PS3 I currently have. My system is in a nice Silverstone case that wouldn't look bad in the living room. What I'd actually like to do is to set it up to run Windows in a VM for gaming, and run some other OS (probably Linux) for the other functions. Fortunately, I have an Intel motherboard, which fully supports VGA passthrough for the VM. I'd have to change the CPU, since it's a K series CPU, and thus doesn't support VT-d, but I can put the CPU in my son's gaming PC, which only has a Pentium in it, and install a non-gaming CPU in the Intel system, which is OK because it doesn't support overclocking anyway. I think the AMD card would work well because I cannot fit a normal-length graphics card in my Silverstone case (double wide would be OK, though), and unlike NVIDIA consumer graphics cards, most AMD cards work fine with VGA passthrough. The integrated graphics would be used on the Linux side. (Alternatively, I could try to use Hyper-V included in Windows 8, which is the OS I have installed on this system, but I'm afraid if a game crashes the Windows side, it could take down the other OS as well.) In any case, I have successfully built a proof-of-concept system using totally different components (including an NVIDIA Quadro card) with the version of Xen that is included with SUSE's SLED 11 SP3, so I already know how to set up Windows with VGA passthrough.Reply

The PC I need a graphics card for will be for my younger sister who will be starting high school. The setup is 2GB of DDR2 RAM @ 800Mhz, a C2D E6320 overclocked to 1.9Ghz. It's a Gigabyte motherboard, nothing fancy since I didn't know what I was doing back then. Now all I need is a GPU to drive the system so that all three of my siblings can play LoL together.Reply

My HTPC consists of a many years old AMD X4 620 and AMD AM3 785G MB which runs well but the motherboard doesn't even output 5.1 surround so I have to run optical to my receiver! This new card will streamline my connections and give me a nice boost so I can run games (and BluRays) from time to time which would be great.Reply

Trying to get my wife into PC gaming on more than a casual basis and need to build a rig to replace her aging laptop. The R7 250 would be perfect for the games she's interested in: Diablo 3, Left 4 Dead 2, and (hopefully) Titanfall.Reply

My wife's running a hodge-podge system with components from 2007-2011. Radeon 4850, Athlon X2 6000, etc. I myself am running a Phenom II x4 w/ GTX460 graphics (sorry AMD, it was cheap!) purchased used from some guy in a trailer park. I'd love to compare performance both to my 460 and to her 4850 (which would likely be replaced by the R7 250).Reply

My wife currently games on an AMD based system with a 5850 video card which featured a great price/performance ratio for it's day and is actually still a good card to this day. I would love to do a comparison of the newer "value" segment cards on older hardware and the benefits of upgrading for older systems. Rest of the hardware in her box is an AMD Phenom II X4 B95 (or close to that model) 8gb of ram and a 1tb Sata harddrive. I expect some games will have lower framerates (she is primarily a WOW player) but the support for the newer version of DX would be a plus for other games.Reply

I am going to do a fresh install of Windows 7 on a newer, bigger harddrive, and I think upgrading to the R7 250 at the same time would make it be just like a brand new computer for her. I bet it is quieter and uses less power than the 4670, which are both huge pluses.Reply

This would be a great addition to the machine my 12 year old son is currently building. He is a very smart boy who doesn't like sports but loves his time on the computer. He loves to play PC games but currently doesn't have the type of system to allow him to take it to the next level so we are building him a machine from scratch that he has saved up his on money for and is at 450.00 so far. This would help him greatly in speeding the process up and would also help him become the future of Technology a little bit quicker.Reply

Just built my brother who's heading off to college a mini ITX box with the A10-7850K overclocked under water and 8GB of DDR3 2400 MHz for maximizing gaming bandwidth. He seems content to play at 1366x768 and 1650x1080, but would love to be able to move up to comfortable framerates at 1080p on his dorm room HDTV, maybe even with some low level AA. I think the Dual Graphics option would make this feasible, but he's been hesitant to spend the $80 (as a poor college student) as the reviews we've seen seem inconclusive for certain games.

He mostly plays via a controller and Steam Big Picture, so if we were to win we'd happily provide feedback on how the Dual Graphics option works for a SteamBox and console-esque gaming, along with some MMOs and RTSs. We'd also finally get a firsthand answer to what a heavily overclocked A10-7850K could do in Dual Graphics mode; because we haven't found a reliable resource for what this level of performance might equate to.

Running a home build Intel Q9400, 8GB Ram, EVGA 9600, 128GB SDD. I can afford to upgrade the CPU, motherboard and ram all at the same time, so the next best thing is a faster video card so that my PC will at least appear faster, hopefully when playing online games and streaming video.Reply

Same as Panzer here, running on an old beast, this would let me upgrade to something that could play a lot more new games. Hopefully, the dual graphics with Kaveri play out nicely, in which case I could take the time and my income tax return this year to put together a small box for it to call homeReply

I currently have a computer that I pieced together for my 55in HDTV and it's currently running an HD7770. I keep having so many issues with the graphics that I believe the card is dying. This would help get that system back online and pushing some decent gaming. Reply

I think the card would work great on my mini-ITX system that has AMD A10-6800K. I would use it to repalce the GeForce 450 that I have here so that I can have a bit more power, performance, while reduce the overall power consumption and heat output. AMD latest GPU has lots of nice feature that I think it would be great for a media PC that also does light gaming.Reply

Our son could really use a card like this. He is on an older system and we just had to upgrade from XP (yeah, I know but money is money) and most of the newer stuff just doesn't like to run on a 256MB card all that well. Being young he does a lot of educational stuff as well. This card would keep him going a long time before needing an upgrade. He has 2GB of RAM and a 2.6GHz processor so this really is the bottleneck now.Reply

I have an i5-2500k, 16GB of RAM. I don't game, but want to do more video and photoshop. Stuff that doesn't need a 780GTX or anything like that - but more than discrete graphics. Currently I have a 5770 Radeon HD card in there. I'm looking for something that won't take up 2 slots or burn your hands if you accidentally touch the card within a few minutes of running the system.Reply

This would be used as a lower power upgrade to my HTPC/gaming rig in my livingroom. My main gaming rig is more powerful than this, but there are many times I play games on the projector in the livingroom or let friends use it so we can play over LAN.Reply

I have a Core i3 system hooked to my living room TV with a HD4830 GPU. I use it for Netflix/Hulu, basic gaming and MMPOG's like Guild Wars 2, office productivity and web browsing, YouTube, and other assorted things,

I'm assembling a PC from older spare parts for my nephew and the R7 250 would be ideal for a GPU. The CPU is an Athlon X2 6400+ BE (old Windsor chip), 4GB DDR2 800 RAM and a new 128GB SSD I bought for it. I think it would make for a pretty balanced system he should be able to play a fair number games on medium settings with. Please enter me!Reply

My office machine has an older basic video card. This is fine, but it only supports two monitors. I'd like to win this card so I can attach a 3rd monitor. When you have multiple Word and Excel documents open, more is better. Reply

Thanks for the opportunity to enter. I have 2 new Kaveri 7850K cpu/Asus A88XM-A motherboard systems. One is for my son, other is a HTPC build. The system for my son has 128gb Kingston SSD, 300GB spin HD, and is for gaming. He plays Diablo 3 and we have the coupons for the BF4 download that I will install when time permits. The R7 250 would be a great addition to his build for the Crossfire potential and added graphics ability on his machine. Hope I win :)Reply

Video editing! Currently accelerating encode/decode with an HD 5770, which, while better than nothing could use a replacement. Said computer would gain a notable boost with a GCN graphics card (UVD 3.0 would likely help as well).Reply

I currently have a computer hooked up to my TV and speakers (via a receiver) which is serving as an HTPC. The integrated graphics (intel HD 2500) are capable of providing smooth 1080p video playback, but can't really keep up with gaming. It would be great to add a discrete graphics card that could handle some light gaming, e.g. FIFA or Rayman, as I have a couple Logitech wireless controllers that I can hook up to the HTPC. Also, its a MicoATX case so the small size would go well. Finally, I've had good experience with the noise levels on Asus cards, which is very important to me in this application as I would find elevated fan noises quite irritating during movie or music playback.Reply

Currently, I'm using a GeForce 210, it was awesome, for 2009. I can't find a benchmark comparison of the two cards, but it would be like going from a crank start two cylinder to a maserati for me. I just built a new PC on the AMD FX 4130 and the GPU is the only thing I havent been able to update.Reply

Why do I need this system? Well being 18 and not having hardly any money I tried to build my mother a PC for her to work at home, play a little minecraft, watch videos, etc. Since I didn't have money for anything remotely new I used a bunch of spare parts and put together a system with a Core 2 Duo E7200 oced to 3.16GHz, a GeForce 8600 GT, 4GB of RAM, and an Intel X38 board we got from some guy on craigslist for $35!

It's a great system for her but the graphics department could really use some more power. A Radeon R7 250 would fit the bill. It's got better video decode support and a much faster GPU so I could finally let her play minecraft the way it's meant to be played. It's also light on power consumption so I stronger PSU wouldn't be needed.Reply

I'm using a core i5 3470 system for work with an old geforce 210 to drive dual monitors. I sometimes get bsod when using hardware acceleration in certain software so I think the gf210 may be on its last legs. I work for a research lab and budget is tight, so this will give me a nice little upgrade.Reply

I want an R9 280 or 290 but the inflated prices are holding me back and have made me consider Nvidia again. I’ll compare the R7 250 this to my HD 5830 and keep the faster card. The slower card will go to upgrade my Kids computer that is running an Nvidia 8800 GTS 512 . Reply

I've always been an avid PC guy, but recently I haven't had a chance to really play games on my computer due to having kids. My wife finally let me upgrade my computer from my old Athlon X2 processor running a Radeon 3370 card (I think...its been a few years since I did the upgrade). Now here is my new system setup:AMD FX-8320 processorASUS M5A97 R2.0 motherboard8 GB DDR3 1600 RAMXFX R7-260X Core Edition Video Card20 in. 1080p monitor

Now I know the video card I have probably blows the R7-250 out of the water, but lets just say that my wife wasn't happy with the amount I spent on the computer, especially the video card since I don't game that often.

I would like to see how well this video card works for our day to day stuff (desktop stuff, chromecast, videos) along with the performance in some games I've been waiting to play (namely, Bioshock Infinite along with some racing games that my kids would like). If I get the card and it works for my needs, then I'll probably sell the 260X to make my wife happy. :)Reply

Currently have an old nforce mobo acting as my home server. No GPU so any time I want to fiddle with the BIOS or boot a flashdrive, it means getting out a half-broken geforce card from about the same time that overheats and draws more power than the PSU can comfortably supplyReply

I've got a bunch of spare parts laying around my house, and my best friend has always been a console guy. I've been trying to get him into building a gaming PC for a while now to show him just how much of a difference there can be in graphics, ease of use, and multi-tasking on a computer. With this video card I'd be able to build him a Reply

I would like to upgrade my dad's PC for his birthday. I put it together for him a couple years ago so he could watch tv and ditch the cable subscription to save money. He keeps it in a room with a tiny window mounted air conditioner. Lately he has taken to gaming, and during the Florida summer when his ac isn't running to save money, the NVIDIA card in there now roars. I'd like to give him something quieter that will give him better performance in all of his games without dumping loads of heat into the room! The R7 250 sounds like the perfect choice. Reply

After posting I re-read the original and realized you wanted info on our current setup.

This would be going into a new build that I just completed:Core i5 4670KAsus Z87-proCoolermaster Hyper212 Evo16gb G.skill ram250gb Samsung 840 Evo2x3tb 7200 HDSeasonic G-series 650W power supplyFractal Design Arc Midi R2 Case

Currently using integrated graphics with the 4670K as I am waiting on which GPU to get (also waiting on more funds as I am a graduate student). This machine is mostly used for video editing and photoshop work. The GPU would not help too much with photoshop but would be helpful for the video editing work in premiere and after effects. If I got the card then I would also be able to game a little bit on this system. I do not plan on buying into the current generation of video game systems (ps4 or Xbox One) so having this system be capable for low end gaming would be great. Reply

I'm currently looking for something that I can put into a Pentium D system to replace an old p4 at work. Wanting to setup a dual or triple monitor setup if at all possible. This p4 is so slow and I'm aware that a pentium D isn't a huge jump but its still better than what I've got now.Reply

My old computer getting very old, I recently put together a new system, with an i5-4670 and 8 GB of RAM. However, I didn't have the money for a discrete graphics card, so I am using the HD 4600 graphics until I can afford a card. I play games, and needless to say, I am playing a lot of older games and games on low-quality settings and non-ideal resolutions. This card would be a major upgrade from the HD 4600 and greatly improve the range of games I can play and the experience I have with them.Reply

I'd like to upgrade the graphics on my wife's year old system. The graphics are integrated (HD 2500 I believe) and could use a boost to play some modern came titles. It looks like this card would be a nice step up, though if I was buying for myself, I would probably be looking for more performance.Reply

I am about to build my first new PC in eight years. I have been picking the parts for weeks now trying to piece together the best, mid-high system that I can. This video card would do many things for me, but the two most important are; 1, save me money for other parts and 2, make this a kick butt system. Thanks for giving us the option to win the card.

Current system is a 4th Gen i5, 16 GB ram, Asus Z87 Mobo and an AMD HD 4650. My videocard is what needs upgraded most (over 5 years old). I would really like to move up to the 256 bit interface cards like the HD 7850, but Id be satisfied with the R7 250 if I got it. The price is half what the older 7850's are, and have less than half the performance. But the R7 250 still kicks the snot out of the old 4650. I use my system for CAD and rendering, a more powerful card would encourage me to look into ways to push this work to my GPU. If I got this card, Id want to do some research and benchmarks on the rendering capabilities of it. Reply

I would like to put this in the htpc in my bedroom. I had some issues with Ivy Bridge graphics and my TV, so I had to put in an old GTX 460--not ideally suited for an htpc build. The R7 250 would consume a fraction of the juice and should be nearly as powerful for the occasional game--and who doesn't want more performance for less power?Reply

I want this to replace the radeon 4770. The system has a Q6600 with 8GB of ram and a SSD. Direct X11 support is missing and it does not have a displayport connection. An r7 250 would be a good upgrade in that it allows me put some more life into this PC, not mention it would produce a whole lot less heat.Reply

I'd put it in my work computer to replace the onboard graphics and mine alt coins with it when not editing videos... just being honest...System is an old server board that was retired and turned into my workstation here at work. I don't remember the make/model of the motherboard, but the CPU is an Opteron 6128 with 6GB RAM. Win7x64.Reply

I just went back and re-read the instructions - You want to know WHY we want this card... Well....

I have a perfect plan for it. See, the next PC build I am planning for my home is going to be based on the A8-7600 - I can't wait for that CPU to come out. This will be the 6th custom built PC in our home, and it will be an HTPC/Light Gaming PC for the master bedroom. Other PCs we have include 3 gaming PCs (one for me and 2 to share among the boys), a HTPC/Gaming PC in our main media center, and a mini-ITX Xeon E3 based home server.

The reason why I'm so excited about the A8 is that it will allow me to build a PC that my wife will allow in our bedroom. I will be running the A8 in 45 W mode, and it's going to be based on the Streacom F1C Evo chasis (already bought), running Ubuntu - maybe dual boot with SteamOS. Think of it as a mini Steam box for streaming home movies and videos, my wife's shows and my light gaming. I plan on running this with SSD only, a blu-ray drive (for those spontaneous Red-Box rentals), and a 150W Pico PSU. In short, I am super excited about this build!

Ok, so why do I want an R7-250? Well, as an alternative to my Streacom F1C build, I am intrigued with testing out the dual graphics capability. So, if I won the R7-250, I would look at an expanded build based on the Lian-Li PC-Q03 case. This is the smallest case I could find that would support the single full-height graphics card.

In short, I'm actually looking forward to my A8-7600 build more so than any other PC to date, and adding an R7-250 into the mix would be icing on that cake!Reply

I have an old amd Phenom x6 1090t, My Geforce 460 recently died so it is currently limping along with an old spare Radeon HD5450(no integrated graphics on my am3 mobo). The R7 250 would actually allow me to play games again.Reply

I want this card primarily because it is a single slot design that would fit well in an older quad core dell I bought at work that doesn't have room for a dual slot solution. The computer is used as a HTPC and was originally a CAD workstation. I tend to build my own computers and my main rig is pretty beefy (I need to upgrade an old HD6970 in it). It's frustrateing the compromises Dell has made that limit upgradability of what was one of there top systems five years ago. I've been in the Steam Streaming beta for a while and would love to do more in the living room; I think a newer video card would help performance there a fair bit. I'm also getting into indie development and would love to have another system to test on. I'd prefer to put the 6970 in the HTPC and replace it with a R9 290 but i'd have to cut the heatsink on the CPU to do that.Reply

I currently have an old pc running an old nvidia 8600 along with a few other components from the Athlon era. Winning an R7 250 would allow for a much needed upgrade in performance for both daily and gaming needs.

Thanks to AMD, Asus and Anandtech for yet another great giveaway and good luck to all who enter!Reply

Right now my desktop is a has only integrated graphics. Given, they're the integrated graphics from an A10-7850k, but since it's powering a 1080p monitor, I don't often get the graphical quality I'd like when gaming. Winning an R7 250 would not only give me a chance to benefit from the card itself, but also a chance to benefit from dual graphics. Reply

I would use this to upgrade my HTPC setup from an Asus 3650. Would like better audio support, up to date drivers, and a little gaming on that PC would be pretty cool. Simply the fact that it would get rid of the catalyst center nag box about how old my card is would be nice. Reply

I am on an asus desktop that is 10 years old with a CPU that is getting a little past it's due date and I could use this GPU to maybe help boost my video viewing experience. Thank you for the chance to win this.Reply

I built a Kaveri A10-7850K gaming computer in December. I have looked at the supposed Dual Graphics compatible cards that are out for Kaveri. I wonder just how effective the Dual Graphics will be when the r7 250 doesn't have the same stream processor count as a 7850K. It would be interesting to test this out on BF4!

There is no additional graphics card yet I wanted to wait until a few years go buy and I might upgrade to Carrizo or buy a 280X equivalent. However I would be happy to run test and experiment with Kaveri alone and with Dual Graphics enabled w/ Mantle! I have FPS running most of the time anyway. Reply

This card could be an excellent match for my HTPC. I'm thinking playing PC games (using a wired controller) on a 40" LCD I would prefer 1280x720 resolution for the distance I sit at to make text and UI elements more pronounced. This class of card seems like it could be a champ for this purpose while having a low power envelope and hopefully low noise under load. My system is comparatively budget conscious all around:

I just built a new AMD Kaveri A10-7859 with an MSI A88XM-E45 motherboard in a new, microATX case from Lian Li. I put 8 GB of RAM from the rig it was replacing and a nice 256 GB SSD. Its the first new PC I have built in a couple of years besides some nettops. The APU concept got me excited now that performance has improved dramatically. I'm loving the new set up, but sure would love to pop this R7 250 in and see how well the Crossfire helps me with some of the more demanding games I'd like to throw at it. And, today is my birthday. It really is.Reply

I currently have a Radeon HD 5770 in a small form factor case. The computer is hooked up to a 32" 1080p LCD TV and used as an HTPC and for occasional gaming (Civ V, League of Legends).

I love my 5770 for its high performance/watt and low idle power usage, which is important in my cramped case. It looks like the R7 250 will be quite an improvement in power draw. I am also excited to see if there is improvement in video playback quality on the R7 250.

In addition, my 5770 is getting rather long in the tooth. I have already had to replace the fan, so it would be nice to get a nice new card.Reply

My current system is a hand-assembled Linux machine based on a Core i3-2105 processor, 8GB of DRAM, 30GB SSD for program store, and 750GB HDD for /home. The current video card is an HD5570 based card; I had to use it rather than the on-chip Intel video because the available Intel video driver had a nasty bug that froze the system and required frequent reboots.

While the HD5570 is perfectly acceptable for normal daily use, I'd love to have a more powerful card for rendering.Reply

My current setup is an i7-2600k and a GTX 560 TI in my desktop + a MacBook Pro for work. No AMD :(

BUT, I just recently built a system for a friend with an A8-6600k. It was perfect for here. I actually liked it so much that I'm thinking about building one for myself to hook up to my TV, but I think I want just a little more graphics power. So a Kaveri APU + one of these R7 250's would be perfect for my needs. Reply

I've been looking to upgrade to an APU configuration. I picked out a high-end motherboard and a lot of RAM for my most recent build (about a year and a half old now) so that I could have an effective upgrade path, and I've since upgraded to a 5770, then added a 6770 crossfire setup. I'd like to see what the R7 250 and Kaveri can do together.Reply

I've got a HTPC running a 2nd gen Intel graphics. The ones not even supported in Windows 8/Server 2012 unless you hack the driver INI and take out the line that to paraphrase says: Make this driver not work on windows 8 so we can sell a new CPU. Making it able to game would be awesome!Reply

Two systems that this might go in:HTPC: Intel Core i3 4th gen MicroATX system. Just upgraded from an old Core 2 Quad with ATI 5770, the i3's built in HD 4600 graphics is "sufficient" for every use we have (frighteningly, it's BETTER for Blu-ray,) but it certainly isn't "great" for gaming. Thankfully, we only do fairly casual gaming on this rig. My daughter plays Minecraft, which is the most intensive game currently used. But a 'real' video card that is modern would certainly improve the experience.

Workstation: An old dual Nehalem Xeon system, it just inherited the Radeon 5770 from the HTPC. Previously it was using a GeForce 9600GT. While the 5770 is certainly an improvement, as this is my own primary gaming rig, it would be great to have something newer that can handle modern games. I haven't bought many modern games almost entirely because I can't run them well. The other big deal to me is the use of GPU compute for video transcoding, the "serious" purpose this machine is used for. It's sad that this system, with 8 cores and a "high end" (for the time) GPU transcodes video slower than the Core i3 thanks to QuickSync.Reply

I have a 3 year old HP pavilion desktop begging for an upgrade. It has a AMD Radeon HD 6450 with a Intel Sandybridge Core-i5. This will really be good boost for me allowing me to play a bunch of games which I have put off for the lack of decent hardware. Being involved with OpenCL professionally, I am an AMD loyal for GPU because of the great OpenCL tools and support.

I have a coworker whose 11 year old son is just now getting into computers. He wants to learn how to build them and then use video capture and post youtube videos. He's saved his allowance for a while, this card would make his budget go much further so I can teach him how to build his own system.Reply

My friend hasn't had a gaming computer since before college 8 years ago. Recently married and going to school, he wants a build one but is on a shoestring budget. We're trying to cut every corner we can and scrounge parts, this would be a great gift to help make that build come together!Reply

I would like to win it to put it on my nephew's computer, so he can play games and have fun. He currently have a Core 2 E6400 with 2GB of RAM and a measly Radeon HD 3650 which ain't cut it anymore. I know he will be CPU bottlenecked, but he play games like Cars, Rayman etc which aren't very CPU demanding, but more GPU bound and his card slow downs a lot.Reply

I have a close friend who currently has a 5 year old laptop that is quickly approaching the end of it's life. With this gpu and a cheap, low end processor I would build my friend the desktop that she wants. It would be used for gaming at 1080p (she doesn't really care about quality, just being able to play games is enough).Reply

I have a Core I7-920 leftover from upgrading my main PC. I would use the R7 250 to turn it into a HTPC. I also run BOINC for distributed computing, and I think the R7 250 would be good for crunching while staying cool and quiet.Reply

What I'm looking for here is an understanding of what your current system configuration is, why the Radeon R7 250 matters you and how you'd use it.

My current config consist of a Phenom II X4 820, HD4870 512MB and 4GB of RAM. Old rig to be sure but it still plays modern games at high detail at reasonable FPS @ 1080p. The R7 250, I am not sure if it is an extreme upgrade from what I have. I do play a ton of new mainstream new games and Mantle could help me out specifically since I have a slow CPU by todays standards. The extra RAM would be of great use as I would like to enable higher AA levels in some games and reap the benefits of lower power use especially when idle. However the rig may not be up to the challenge as I am almost sure it would bottleneck the card to an extent that even if it is an extreme upgrade, there is no way I would know.Reply

My personal gaming machine is a based around an ASUS HD6950 so no need to upgrade there. However, my girlfriend who games on her PS3 isn't so thrilled about the PS4 or the XBone. She has also never built a PC before.

What I intend to do is build a Steambox with her for the living room. Kaveri plus a CrossFire R7 seem like an excellent, compact, low cost option to make this happen. Among other reasons, I hope that Mantle will prove to do for SteamOS gaming what DirectX did for Windows. AMD and ASUS are my favorite brands anyway so this would make an excellent component for us to use.

So that's my pitch. If I win this card I will build a Steambox with my gf.Reply

I'm a long time Apple/mac user and I only recently starting to learn the hackintosh/pc side of things. Coming from the apple ecosystem, i'm focusing on getting as much power into as small of a package as possible. The current build that I'm working on is GA-Z87-Wifi ITX board with a intel i7 4770K Haswell CPU and an Asus HD 7850 GPU all wrapped up in the EVGA Hadron Air case. I'd like to have this R7250 because I'm looking to use a smaller form factor GPU that can free up some case space to allow for better airflow and thus expanded OC headroom. Reply

My wifes desktop which is using an old Q6600 and an 8800GTS is in dire need of an upgraded graphics card for some of the applications my son will be using for his homeschooling. It also seconds as a basic gaming rig for my 2 boys. This would be a great upgrade not for performance, but for connectivities sake.Reply

My finances took a turn for the worse recently. As a result, I'm paying more attention to the price/performance ratio and power consumption of the computer parts I acquire. The R7 250 does well in both categories.

I'm surprised how much performance is squeezed out of a sub-75-watt card. Unlike years past, you no longer need to add more power (and resulting heat) to a graphics processor in order to handle current generation games fluidly. I have a couple of friends who like PC gaming but aren't well versed in replacing parts. Telling them "buy this card, drop it in, no extra power cables necessary" seems pretty convincing to me.

In the future I'd like to downscale my desktop's power consumption and size to better align with my usage. The recent popularity of mini-ITX and smaller form factors will help me out in this regard, as will efficient graphics cards like the R7 250.

In some sense I feel this is a sign of getting older. I don't need a sports car. I'm not going to drive 150 miles per hour on the way to work. What I need is something dependable, efficient and rational with an appropriate level of fun thrown in. Likewise, I don't need a $400+ graphics card. It would be a different story if I could afford it, but I'm not missing out.Reply

Well I have an htpc with an old 5670 in it. I only use it for watching videos and light gaming, so it has a Sandy Bridge Celeron processor, 8Gb of RAM and a 1 Tb WD green hard drive paired with a small ssd. I'm only going for low power on the gpu, so it might be nice to test out how this thing competes!Reply

I'd love to win this, I'm currently looking to build a cheap sff pc that i can carry around with me to do some light gaming, as well as work. Thinking about an amd apu and was going to not go with a gpu but if i can crossfire them that would be awesome!Reply

I could use this, because I am running a system that is getting old and can't afford to upgrade it the way I want. I have a Pentium dual core E6300 2.8 Ghz and a Nvidia Geforce 9800+ 512 MB. I realize the R7 250 is a value card, but I think it will still give me better performance than the 9800+, or at the very least, better feature support.Reply

I need this card to upgrade my Auntie's PC. She's still trying to game on the last video card (Radeon X1600XT) I gave her. Poor girl thinks running Battlefield Europe on 1024x768 and minimum settings is "cool".Reply

A friend of mine is on an old AMD desktop that's about 7 years old now, and I want to help him build a new one, so a slick little graphics card like this would be helpful with that. He actually had to pawn his video card because his financial situation wasn't the greatest. So he's just using onboard or some POS card. His system proc is a Phenom X4 9600 (released in 2007!) So every little bit helps.Reply

Quite literally purchased an A10-7850K CPU and an MSI A78M-E45 motherboard yesterday. Ordered 8GB PC3-19200 RAM to go along with it as well. Waiting for the RAM to arrive to put the system together. Would love to see how the dual graphics capabilities of adding an R7 250 card would improve performance in the new Thief reboot.Reply

I'm currently running an ATI 4850 that I've had for several years. I'm very interested in DirectX 11 and up. Main reason being Star Citizen, I backed the project and would like to start playing with the pieces they've released, but the game requires DirectX 11. I'm past the point in my gaming life where I want/need the latest and greatest, so if something can get the job done reasonably well at a lower price point, I'm in.Reply

I currently have a desktop running an i5 4670, with 8gb of ram, and a Gigabyte board that can run a crossfire setup. I'm in the market to upgrade my Geforce 450GTX. It just isn't cutting it anymore. Winning an R7 250 would mean that I can setup my first dual graphics card system! I'd be buying a 2nd one to go along with the one I hope to win.Reply

I'd love to win this. I'm currently running a 5 year old Intel w3520/EVGA X58 setup using an XFX 5870; and while the overall system is still fast, the GPU is starting to feel slow during gaming. I like to play the newest stuff, like Titanfall, Thief, BF4, Metro, etc, at 1920x1200 with higher settings, so it would be great to have something newer. I also like to give away aged hardware, so somebody else could benefit as well.Reply

I would love to win this on behalf of my wife. She has an A10 APU 5800K, and I am curious if this would crossfire. She could certainly use the performance increase, as the A10 is only good for very basic gaming. It works for WoW, but newer titles are sluggish. We tried upgrading her ram, as this often helps. It was not the increase we were hoping for, and I would like to get her to be able to run Battlefield 4 on mid settings :) Thanks Anand!Reply

The system I would use this in:Gateway E-4620D with E8400 core2 duo and 4gig PC2-6400mem 2x80gb HD in raid1. Currently using on-board Intel graphics. This card would be ideal to up-grade this machines graphics capabilities on all fronts.Reply

Currently I am planning a Mini-ITX build with a bit of a black and red theme. I'm very excited about the future of Kaveri looking at programs that are taking advantage of HSA and although small they are extremely processing. Currently I'm planning to use a Cooler Master 110, A10-7850K, AsRock FM2A88X-ITX+, 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 1866(Red), Corsair CX500M PSU, 120 Kingston HyperX 3K. I will custom sleeve cables in imperial red and plan on using Corsair H80i to cool my system.

The reason why I would be interested in this card is to test Dual Graphics with the A10-7850K as I know there are basically only two cards that can be currently used for that purpose. It would be very nice to have a budge small build that I can use for daily use and at least play games at low-med settings at 1080P. Although the current reviews show limited improvement I be interested in seeing what future drivers can deliver. Reply

My current htpc is getting old, still xp, I have a copy of 8.1 waiting in the wings, still deciding on upgrades or a full rebuild. Foxconn g31, c2d e8600 3.3, 4gigs ddr2 800, sapphire amd 4670 512 ram (fan is making noise, grrr!), ht omega claro plus s/c (highly recommend, sounds great, simple app, and no driver issues, just works), corsair 430 watt psu. This is my juke box with jriver media center, feeding a yamaha receiver to 2 to 4 sets of speakers, movies with vlc (always works)-might load xbmc again, and some light gaming, like team fortress 2 (Steam!). Considering a rebuild with an A6 or an Athlon x4 750k, and 8 gigs ddr3 on an fm2/fm2+ board, this card would be a perfect fit. Reply

I'm currently running my HTPC with a Phenom II X4 940 (cannibalized from my previous gaming rig) utilizing the motherboard graphics from the 785G chipset. Until recently I was using a passively cooled HD4650 but the card recently burned out and I was forced to revert to the onboard motherboard graphics.

I watch local content through XBMC and also stream through Netflix and Amazon. Now that the system is running with onboard graphics it just isn't quite fast enough to provide a seamless viewing experience. Playback stutters at least a little on most HD content, but when watching Amazon's higher bitrate HD streams it becomes unwatchable.

With the addition of a Radeon R7 250 I'd once again have a powerful enough hardware video decode system to fully enjoy my HTPC again.Reply

I have an HTPC that I use for my wife to stream Netflix and some older games to our living room TV. It's running an E5200 and Geforce 9300 igp. An R7 250 would be a great surprise upgrade for that PC to let her play games like Civ 5 and WoW at 1920x1080 as per the TV's native resolution. Good luck to everyone who enters!Reply

Currently on a dual-socket Xeon system driven by an incredibly obsolete Quadro I had lying around. The GPU is the weak point in this machine - it's slow, loud, and thirsty. Something moderately fast and quieter would be great!Reply

Currently running a phenom ii with an nVidia gpu. Since building, I've switched to Linux, and am sometimes having issues with the graphics drivers. Could use an AMD GPU they're better about their Linux drivers.Reply

I have a few htpc computers based on amd's apus. I would like to experiment with the dual graphics capabilities. I have a FM1, FM2, and FM2+ chip. While they play casual and adventure games just fine (and Kaveri plays anything I play just fine), I would like to experiment with the impact of dual graphics @720 and 1080 from a subjective point of view. How noticeable is it? Thank you for the chance to enter Anandtech and AMD! Reply

I'm currently rocking a GeForce 9500 GS video card. It's only good-ish for old games (pre-2010), and watching videos. Unfortunately it cannot accommodate games or videos on fullscreen for my 1920 x 1080 monitor. This card would be a real improvement to my computer. Hope I win.Reply

I would really like this R7 250 because it is supposedly the fastest card that can be used with AMD Dual Graphics in conjuncture with the A10-7850k APU. I know that Dual Graphics has been a mess with poor frame-time performance in the past, but I am hoping that AMD can resolve the issues and get Dual Graphics up to speed. I think building A10-7850k systems for cheap, and then adding the also relatively inexpensive R7 250 down the road would be an interesting value proposition for a gaming pc and media center, and also for Steam OS.Reply

My last discrete graphics card died in Nov of 2012. I recently built a new system with a 4770k, Gigabyte UD5H, and G.Skill RAM; and I have been playing games using the intel HD graphics 4600 (which has been miserable). I have been weighing the pros and cons between the variety of GPUs on the market, and had strongly considered the newer AMDs for the cost to performance they offered. Yet, the prices on their higher end cards have increased (I guess due to the bitcoin-mining trend). I had previously owned Nvidia GPUs in SLI but my experience with them was just so-so (I had to RMA them several times, which was mildly perturbing). I want something that is reliable and will last me a long time and I'd like to find a company that reciprocates loyalty.

I'd really like to get back to some quality gaming and would love the opportunity to try out a card from AMD. I have always been a frequent gamer and I have been itching to getting back in the fold.

My wife needed a computer. We had been sharing my iMac for quite some time but we needed to both use it at the same time, her to make materials for her class and myself to do schoolwork. I wanted to buy her an iMac to compliment mine, but she didn't want to spend that kind of money. Without my knowledge she went out and bought a Dell Inspiron 660.

The system actually isn't too bad. Intel Core i5-3340 (3.1 Ghz Quad Core), 8 GB DDR3 1600, 1TB Seagate HDD. The only thing it's lacking is a GPU, It's using the CPU's Integrated Intel HD Graphics 2500. It does however have a PCI Express x16 slot on the motherboard waiting for a GPU.

As she's used the computer more and more she's decided she'd like to try some gaming. She's interested in playing older titles, like Portal and World of Warcraft, which would likely run like a champ on the AMD Radeon R7 250.Reply

The Radeon R7 250 would be a decent size upgrade of what I currently have to say the least :).

I would use it primarily for playing games of course. Being able to play at something other than low resolution & the lowest of settings would undoubtedly decrease my frustration and increase my level of enjoyment in playing games in my spare time :).Reply

I am currently running an AMD A10-7850K budget machine with 16GB RAM and an SSD drive, which i’m using for architecture school and some occasional gaming at 1080p resolution. My current configuration performs nicely but I would be very interested in seeing how the R7 250 improves performance in crossfire mode with my APU. I appreciate value when it comes to hardware, which is why this GPU at it’s entry-level price is very appealing to me.Reply

I personally have a R9-290X, gaming laptop, and a slim desktop with a Nvidia 650. I would not personally use this card for myself but if I were to win this product I would give this to my friend Sam. Sam is struggling with a few issues right now and I would do anything to keep this kid from making silly mistakes. Have a better graphics card then what he already has would keep him away from the people that are causing him to make poor mistakes. This card would mean a lot to Sam and myself.

I don't need it but my brother in law needs it in the worst way. His video card took a dive and they don't have the finances to buy a new one and I'm out of old ones to hand out. He is down to on board video and this would be a God send.Reply

My system was originally built in 2010. It now has an i3 CPU and 8 g or DDR3 ram. Everything but the old nvidia gpu has gone through upgrades. I'm not even sure what the gpu is, but it had troubles with skyrim. This card would be an upgrade.Reply

My desktop has a PhenomII X2 550 cpu, 4GB RAM, and a Radeon HD 4670 GPU. The setup is getting a bit old, but it is still capable of keeping up with my schoolwork. One problem I have with the 4670 is that it no longer receives driver updates, and that means living with legacy Windows 8 support. I have considered upgrading my GPU, or even building a whole new system, but I decided against it in order to reduce the amount of loans I need for collegeReply

Hey Anand, I would put this into my media pc that's plugged into my tv. right now the media pc is running an Lano APU and it struggles to be a good spectating machine for DotA tournaments. It also lacks the graphics power to run some controller games I like to have on the big screen such as NBA 2k14, Batman series, TMNT: out of the shadows and FIFA Soccer. Lano is great however for all the LEGO games and Castle crashers :D

TLDR; Play more games and use DotA in client to spectate tournaments. Lano is good but not good enough.Reply

This would be for my little htpc I'm building. i3-4130, 4GB RAM, Asrock mITX MB, Corsair 250d. Only card I have to put in there now is an old 8800GT. Would be nice to be able to play at least some games on this thing!Reply

I just set my 80 year old Mother up with her first PC an old system of mine, Core2duo 2.8 w/2gb ram and integrated graphics so she can converse with her sisters and watch her christian video's (which is nearly impossible) with the on board graphics, So make my MoM happy and award her this card.Reply

My current PC setup is that I don't have my own... Ever since joining the professional world many years ago I've had company issued workstations and note books.

I'd probably use this to build a media/steam box to sit between my tv and work space / monitor. I'd imagine it would perform better than the NVS3100 that runs my current gaming powerhouse when it's not shutting down due to thermal overload.Reply

I have a system that I built from 3 years ago with the i5-2500k and the GTX 560ti, mainly for Photoshop CS6. Lately I've been doing a lot of researches for the best GPU which CS6 can optimize and I've found that CS6 utilize OpenCL more from AMD. Hence, I'm thinking of getting an AMD GPU for less power draw and better performance. This would be perfect for my switch over.Reply

I have an HTPC running Intel's X4500 graphics (yes, ancient!) and it's only capable of decoding videos and playing very old games. I would like to be able to play some newer games on it so I'm not limited to gaming in my own room. The system only has a 350W PSU and does not have a 6-pin connector for more powerful PCI-E cards, so I would like to upgrade it with an R7 250, which is a good card that most importantly stays inside my power envelope!Reply

I am not a hardcore gamer myself, but I do like to play some a once in a while on my laptop (2012 MacBook Air). As you might imagine, the frame-rate and quality aren't exactly breakthrough, and I wouldn't mind getting an upgrade. I'm not a huge fan of dedicated game consoles, and with the recent release of SteamOS, I've been considering doing a budget build with a similar card. Since the card is somewhat small, I would probably outfit this with some decent parts, and then use it as my Steam Machine/home media console.Reply

Tired of running remote access protocols to virtual systems, going to try direct video pass through to guests and use a KVM to switch between them for a better experience. I've been looking 5450's or 6450's but i'd be happy starting with an R7 250 : ) Reply

This would be a gift for my girlfriend. Her birthday is coming up. She's got a speedy new quad-core paired with a glacial old nvidia 8600gt video card. This would let us play borderlands2 together.Reply

I would use this to build my brother a new gaming system. He currently uses a HP dual core system with a 4xxxx radeon card, so would be a nice upgrade. And as far as dual graphics goes, I have an HP Llano laptop with a dedicated card that I run asymmetrical crossfire on, on some applications there are great results for the price paid.Reply

My most recent setup is an AMD A10-7850k APU seated in an ASUS a88xm-a motherboard with G.Skill ripjaws z memory running at 2400MHz and 10-12-12-30-1T. The goal of the system was to be a gamer and HTPC combined and it definitely fit the bill. It all fits nicely into a Fractal mATX case which makes the system easy to handle and move when necessary. This was a very budget friendly build out of necessity, which meant relying on the r7 integrated graphics. I must say I'm very pleased with its performance thus far, but my experience could definitely gain from the extra processing power of an R7 250 working in tandem with Kaveri's r7 graphics. Sometimes, simply changing the graphics settings in a game from medium to high is enough shift the focus from playing the story to enjoying the artists' work as it's meant to be viewed, often warranting a second play-through. Replaying a game with higher graphics settings is like reading a book before watching the movie. I need the r7 250 in order to appreciate my games for all that they are.Reply

I would love to win this card. I would give it to my brother. He bought a Dell 660i a few months ago and he games with the machine oblivious to the slide show that the Pentiums integrated graphics produce. I would love to give him this card so he could have a much better gaming experience that smoother gameplay provides.Reply

Need a card for my nephew's computer. He's 15 and currently using a Geforce 7900 GT (yes, that old). He lives with us to go to our local high school, as the one local to his father's house is in Stockton, CA and rather sketchy (News stories of guns / knives found at school, occasional fights that end in stabbings... all around bad news.) He plays Minecraft rather a lot on team based servers, I think most frequently "The Walls." Kind of a low budget version of Battlefield, as his graphics card is in no way fit for anything more than what he's playing, and at 15 he doesn't have the budget to upgrade himself. The whole system is "hand me down" parts from myself, CPU is an i3-530 overclocked to 4GHz with 4GB. A capable CPU and memory subsystem clearly held back by the graphics card.Reply

The Nvidia GTS450 in my wife's computer is pretty long in the tooth and has an annoying fan squeak. We would love to upgrade to something faster (and quieter) without driving up the power bill, but money is very tight right now. Reply

It sounds like from the description, the point of this contest is to put in an effort, not scream "gimme, gimme, gimme".

The reason I need this is because I have two computers and only one decent video card. If I win, I could do a direct comparison between the Radeon 7770 and the Radeon 250x, to see which is faster, or whether they are basically identical. Then the faster one will go with my FX-6300, and the slower (or less quiet) one will go with my Phenom II 955.

I have an old AMD 630 cpu and a cheap motherboard. I am planning to upgrade to an FX-8320 for two reasons. First, on the CPU side, I am writing some programs in Go and that language can make use of all 8 cores. I am almost embarrassed to admit this but I am such a college football geek that I edit video of games. 8 cores and a nice video card would make a nice value system for my needsReply

System I have for the R7 250 is an older i7 930 that I've converted over for my son (10yo) to use. It currently has an equally old GeForce 310. I've been using this system to help him get familiar with the "guts" of a computer. Our goal is to make a quiet/silent system that he can also use for games. We have been looking at the machine component by component and understanding the tradeoffs in upgrading. We just finished migrating from an HDD to SSD and now are looking at "everything that needs a fan" which puts the Video Card next on the list of components. We had looked and were thinking of buying this card exactly(!) to pick up performance gains in the same power point. (which is a nice discussion bridge into talking about the 130watt i7 930 vs the 85w Haswell machine I have) In any case... would love to get the card. Happy to write up our thoughts on adding it to the system. (just don't expect dB measurements or Kill-a-Watt analysis ofthe power usage :-) Thanks again for offering these give-aways!Reply

I could use this.I run an Asus Z87-Pro with an Intel i5-4670K, 16GB Ram with a Samsung 840 EVO 256GB. I currently use the onboard video due to cost reasons and the other AMD cards (R9 or R7) are too expensive. I run 1920x1200 on a 24" LCD. This would slot in the system quiet well.Reply

I run a core2 box to dj in second life. with my broadcast box, integrated graphics sorta cut it but it would be nice to have this to free up system ram and speed up the display with SAM. rattles tin cup, please help me play the blues up to my potentialReply

Hi I would give this card to my sister who is going to build her own pc pretty soon, her budget is very small so she was going to settle on integrated graphics but if I were to win the card I would give it to her.Reply

Currently have a budget PC (on student budget!) without any video card (except Intels integrated). Using a 1600x900 monitor which should be perfect for r7. Mostly I play PES which in not very video card intensive. This will do nicely.Reply

Building a system with my younger son right now. Gonna do an Athlon x4 750 system. Have a Radeon 4850 to get him started. Would be nice to have a little step up to get him going on building his own rigs. Reply

I would love to win this card. My desktop is a Gateway FX7029E with a core 2 quad CPU (Q9300) with 4gb mem, Geforce 8800 gt w/512mb vram, an Intel 120gb SSD boot drive and 500gb storage drive. I can play most modern games still with fair graphics/frame rates, but I'm betting the bump to 1gb on the R7 250, not to mention the new gpu would be a big win for me. ;-)Reply

Alright, so you wanna know my current setup and why I need this card. I'm running an older Dell Dimension 5150 Pentium D with an HD 2600 XT 256 meg as my current video card. Money's kinda been short for awhile and the computer I'd stockpiled bits and pieces for for about a couple of years and finally put together ended up with a problem in 6 months, assuming it's the PSU, so I'm back on my Dell, thankful that it exists too. The 2600 XT is pretty pokey, and seeing as my current PSU's only 300w, I can't use a card that needs extra power running to it. The R7 250 would breathe life into an older system that's still quite usable and keep it as such for quite awhile longer. If I could personally upgrade it I would, but of course I'd also get my other computer going too, so yeah, cash.Reply

I've been swapping my GTX-460 and HD5750 to test with my 3D Projector. I have found that AMD/TriDef is *much* more flexible than nVidia's 3dVision. Thus, I would like this new-generation Radeon to replace my old 5750. Reply

The reason that I would like the video card is because I really want to showcase a powerful gaming computer... that's wireless. Completely wireless! I have a Lian Li Train case that I am modifying so that it orbits my TV. Much like a train model, it's going to be powered through the rail road tracks, and I'm looking into making circular tracks and making sure the train can handle a turn.

I really want this card because when paired with the A10-7850K computer that I just built I would be able to showcase a computer that's powerful and finally get some interest in wireless display technology. I search every day for advancements made. It's my dream to make entirely wireless computers, and the best way to showcase that is the build I'm doing now.

Would the dual graphics be able to do wireless display? I'm not sure, but there are always ways of making it work. I'm not opposed to getting in there myself and making a circuit to show it off.

So I guess: TL;DR I want it to improve the capabilities of the integrated graphics for wireless display so I can showcase a completely wireless desktop pc if possible to finally get some interest in the technology.Reply

My wife still uses the pc I built for her years ago to edit family photos and videos. It's a Phenom II 955 with a MSI 890GXM-G65 mobo. The integrated GPU is an ATI Radeon HD4290 which is adequate handling video editing. Winning this R7 250 card would really give her pc some raw GPU power to editing those 1080p family videos!Reply

I would use this card to upgrade my kids computer. It's about a 5-year old machine that could use a little pick me up. Currently has an Intel Quad-core Q6700 in an Intel DG33TL motherboard with 3GB of ram, running an HIS Radeon HD 4830. This would be a great step up to allow them to run more/better games on their system.Reply

My current machine has a Phenom II X2 550 (which is unlocked to be a quad core) with integrated graphics and 8 gigs of ram. I use 2 displays for how I work and if I won, the Radeon R7 250 would be perfect- low on power draw, quiet, and way better for driving 2 displays at the same time. Reply

I have an older system here with an 5450 in it I would like to put a better gpu into it so I can let my sister play my steam games with family shearing its an older althon II 935 based oem system and doesn't have the power supply to handle any thing that requires more then motherboard power.Reply

I've got a pretty powerful rig (8GB RAM, Core i5-3330, 250GB SSD, 2TB HDD), which I built for myself as a dev machine, and for personal use. However, I don't have a video card in there, so when I try to play anything (CS:GO, StarCraft 2), the framerate is unplayable because I'm using the built-in Intel graphics.

I can't say that I "need" this card, but it would be nice to actually be able to play games at more than 30fps. Reply

To answer the entry question, I currently have a Xeon E3 series processor running on a SuperMicro server motherboard with about 24 GB memory. My current GPU is a cheapo Nvidia GT 610, which sucks for obvious reasons. When I built the system (originally to crunch numbers) I had no money left over for a decent GPU. So for now, I literally cannot play any games. It would be REALLY nice to be able to play (even on medium for some), and the R7 250 looks like a nice step up. I'll be honest and say I haven't owned a AMD GPU since Radeon HD 5830, but a little convincing wouldn't hurt! lol ;-)

I'll be more than happy to provide substantial feedback if I win. I've had consumer reviews published elsewhere.Reply

My current desktop setup is a a Core i5 3570K running off of integrated graphics. I've been wanting to hook up a 3rd monitor, mostly to watch movies while still doing actual work in the other two windows, and this card will get me there without having to upgrade my power supply.Reply

I was not lucky enough to win any of the intel giveaways. So built a kaveri 7850k based desktop with an ITX board, 16 GB 2133 ram, 240 GB SSD. Really hoping I can get this to give the graphics a little bump through dual graphics and hopefully there are no frame pacing issues.

An Intel build with an i3/ low i5 and basic dGPU was probably possible for around the same money.Reply

My current setup is a 7600GT - I'd like to be able to play some of the newer games without having to lower the resolution on my screen. Additionally, I can benefit greatly from the video and software (i.e. Photoshop) acceleration built in to this card. I've never had the opportunity to run more than one graphics card at once, and I'd like to do it with the R7 250. If chosen, I will make sure to put this card through the paces, and provide in-depth feedback.Reply

I recently built my first computer with a Richland A8, FM2+ mITX M/B, HD 7850, and Cooler Master Elite 130 case. I am already anticipating my next build which will be smaller. Perhaps an Elite 110 case and this R7 250 will be perfect. These small builds are addictive.Reply

I'm eager to build my own Steam machine for use in the living room. Have an old Intel Core Duo box with integrated graphics fulfilling those duties for now. This card would allow me to actually install a number of games locally instead of streaming them all the time.Reply

I've been using the processor graphics on my i5-2500k ever since an 8800GTX I had died due to old age. The iGPU has been surprisingly capable, actually managing to run a lot of the games I tried on it, but the performance ceiling is still very, very low. I've no doubt I'd put this card through its paces if I got a hold of one!Reply

Currently, I am using a GTX 570 and have always used NVidia GPUs. Although I realize the R7 250 is nowhere near my GPU in terms of performance, have been curious as to AMD GPU performance and heat generation.Reply

I've been considering two builds lately out of parts I have. I'd love to put together a light TV gaming rig / HTPC out of some spare parts (Core 2 Duo) or to add a card to my dual socket F build as a workstation (it was a server). I have some old power sucking cards that are not quite ideal for these roles (8800GTs, Radeon 4850s).Reply

I'm building my first computer ever in the next month or so. I plan to get an A8-7600 when they are released. I think running an R7 250 in Dual Graphics with the A8-7600 would give me a really enjoyable gaming system that doesn't use that much power. The computer I use now has 1 core(AMD!!) and 1GB of ram, so to say I'm looking forward to building my new PC would be an understatement.Reply

I recently built a budget gaming PC with an A10-7850K APU and no discrete GPU. I would love to be able to increase the gaming capabilities of my system with the R7 250 in dual graphics mode. So please sign me up and thanks for the giveaway!Reply

I'm in the middle of putting together a budget gaming system for my son. He was supposed to get it for X-mas, but as I wanted to run with a Kaveri A10-7850k, I asked him if he'd mind waiting until the parts came out and he said "sure." With the 250 able to x-fire and pairing it all with some 2133 Ram, it would be the icing on the cake for my kid's system.Reply

Right now in my rig I have an fx 6300 CPU because that was the best price to performance CPU I could afford at the time. However, my budget was not big enough to support getting a discrete GPU, so I have been using one of my buddy's gt 610 while I save up for the r7 265.Reply

For my 7 year old son, whose current pc for gaming is: Core2Duo e6750/Win7/4GB/Nvidia 9800GT 512MB. I need a new, faster video card for my son's PC. The current card is only equipped with 512MB of vram, and moving to 1GB will help immensely. Texture swapping is killing performance on the co-op games we play, like Gary's Mod. Temperature is also critical: The current cpu is overheating due to the very high idle and load temps of the nvidia card, which are 50C and 88C, respectively. The 250 idles at a cool 24C and at full load is 60C, using about 100W less power as well and as such, putting out a fraction of the total heat. I really want to make my son happy gaming with him, but right now we are so frustrated; I don't have the money for a new card, and he so badly wants me to fix it for him. Help! If I get this GPU, it will be used for co-op gaming with my son in Minecraft, Garry's Mod, Lego the Movie PC game, Grid 2, Rayman Legends, Duck Tales and Castle of Illusion remastered, Need for Speed Rivals and more. ALL of these games currently cause a rapid, recurring system crash, and cannot be played at all.Reply

I'm in the early stages of upgrading my machine, on the face of it to accommodate Win 7, but there's an alterior motive. I'd like to get back in to gaming, and my current system comes up short in one area - video. I currently use a Radeon HD6670 (xfx, 1GB) card, and I'm quite sure it will come up a bit short for today's games.

I'm winding down in my career, and while I have no concerns about remaining active in retirement, gaming is something I'm looking forward to dipping my toes back in to after many years of the computer simply being a work tool.Reply

I'm currently attempting to overhaul my (very old) gaming rig. It's based on an AM3 Asus M4A78LT-M LE, an Athlon II X2, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and an HD 5670 from Sapphire, all of which I got from Cyberpower PC a while back.

Plainly said, most anything would be an upgrade for me at this point, and I am on a very shoestring budget. I've got very little income, and what's there goes to paying for my computer science degree.

Ultimately, I'd use it to play some games in my downtime, relieve some stress from the college grind, and free up a little cash so that I can upgrade my core components sometime down the road, which would allow me to more easily tackle some of the larger programming projects on the not-to-distant horizon.

I am always willing to opine about a product though, and would definitely be willing to give more than a "paragraph or two" about the R7 250 if I won.

After 9 (NINE!) years of scraping by with a single core 32-bit Athlon in a Shuttle XPC case (biggest mistake ever), I managed to scrape enough parts together one NewEgg sale and Amazon gift card at a time to build a Haswell i5 system last month, with a bunch of the parts bummed off of friends who upgraded their systems. Right now I'm running on a testy old 400w power supply with no EIDE connectors and integrated Intel HD graphics, so the 250 is an appealing card for the power envelope. My "good" monitor is 1280x1024 native, so I feel I'm in the target audience for the R7-250 as it is. Running Linux Mint currently, but will probably also be installing Win 8.1 and SteamOS on it in the near future.

BTW, this isn't a sob story, my family isn't poor. Our budget was just weighted such that any and every thing was put in priority over a new computer. Our disposable income just tended to get spent on home remodels, paying off cars, sudden emergencies like a busted sewer line, etc. This computer is something of a labor of love and an experiment in commando purchasing using credit card rewards and junk like Swagbucks (rewards good, Swagbucks bad). Having decent graphics would help a ton.Reply

I'd actually give it to my son, he just got a 2.93 ghz quad core for Christmas, but running only an ancient Fire GL 256 MB card. He cant play anything with us and his brother unless it is on LOOOW. That plain stinks. He needs a decent card that does not draw a lot of juice. You'd really make my kids birthday (even if it IS in June :D ) !Reply

Currently I have a htpc sitting in my room without a video card. I had to steal the card form this to put in to my larger rig when my soc 460 died on my 2 weeks ago. I have no cable and watch most of my TV through strevices. This would be a gerat experiment to put in my htpc and build steam box out ofReply

It has most of the guts of a good gaming machine for a 12 year olds first rig. 2.93 quad, 6 gigs, and 500 gb sata hdd...but it has some super proprietary power supply and no spare leads at all. I want to change it, but it's got some weird inline (non standard AND undocumented) connector to the MB, so he's stuck with it for now. A GPU that doesn't need a 6 pin would at least get him SOME eye candy for our 4 way Company of Heroes battles with his brother and step brothers. He's likes to play a lot on steam and has access to all our apps and games, so he could give you all a ton of test data that other budget gamers would find useful. Likely the demographic that would buy a card like this...so a win win all around.

Currently using a 3 year old lenovo t410. Used to play games on it but not anymore as the highest frames i can get now is usually around 5 in Skyrim and League of Legends. The hard drive seems to be failing already thanks to the travel abuse it has gone through. Would use the card to build a budget AMD system, with an ssd, to play League of Legends and Skyrim againReply

Well, if AMD needs a review afterwards, I may have a problem.In this case, the current system is nonexistent. I'm building a computer for a friend on a tight budget, and a free video card will mean more money in the budget that can go to a faster processor or more RAM or (dare I dream?) an SSD. Reply

This would be a great upgrade for my HTPC which sometimes struggles with bluray playback. The 4k resolution would be fantastic although I don't have a receiver that supports it (yet...). I am also intrigued by the improved efficiency compared to what I am running nowReply

The system I would use this card for is a small HTPC that needs a relatively quite and low power usage card that still has enough grunt to making my gaming (both PC and emulator) that I do on the system enjoyable. The system is currently hobbled by the Intel onboard graphics and a card like this would fit the bill perfectly for improved performance without excessive noise or power usage.Reply

I'm looking to build a PC to use for HTPC purposes, but also stream Steam over the network. With my current setup, using a built in video card, both are sub par. I'm looking to re-use older hardware in this setup as well to best utilize my systems.Reply

I built my computer in 08 mostly as an upgrade using my old case, 2gb of ram, and hdd. It has an lga775 e5200 and hd 4850. Works pretty good for older games and lower detail settings. With an r7 250 I could perform an affordable upgrade to fm2+, an a10 processor, and new ram, allowing me to play modern games. My current system is also very noisy at load, and if these components were more quiet I could use it in my living room as a steambox/htpc.Reply

I have built this to prove to my rich buddies that I can run any game on Richland. I have overclocked the CPU to 4.7ghtz and GPU to 1.1ghtz. Along with the high speed ram I am doing pretty well. I am have been looking to crossfire with a low profile AMD card for sometime now to push the setup to its maximum potential. If possible I would love to liquid cool the video card down the road, just to show how high you can go with a little know how.

I promise to show how I do any changes and share with the world my results!

I am currently running a A8-5600K APU with 8G of memory, 120G SSD + 1TB SATA Drive, using Windows 8. It's actually a very nice machine I built on the cheap, runs most games fine on lower settings, but underpowered for something like BF4(get about 20fps on low settings.) I would certainly enjoy trying something like the R7 250 to find out if adding a low priced discrete GPU would add a bit of oomph to my low end setup. My PSU is about right for the current setup, so adding something like the R7 250 shouldn't require any additional upgrades. Sounds like the perfect card for my budget rig.Reply

This Christmas my little brother-in-law (age 8) got Minecraft for Christmas. He loves it, but the 5-year-old Dell's integrated graphics (6150 LE with Intel Core 2 Duo and 2 GB DDR2) just can't play it smoothly. I've been looking for a card that will run on the PCI-E power from the mobo that's also powerful enough that I'd transfer it to a new computer sometime. This R7 250 may fit the bill. Reply

My big rig is an old Core 2 Quad Q6600 + 560 ti GPU. I'm looking to build a mini-ITX sff gaming htpc and purchased a new 7850k APU with 8 GB of 2133 RAM, however it isn't attaining the FPS I was hoping for. An SLI 250 would be PERFECT for my setup, and I would love to write a thorough review if selected as a winner. Thank you so much! Love the site xDReply

I only have one PC in my house that is a hand me down from my friend. I have an Opteron 180, 4 gigs of memory, and an ATI 3850 as my graphics card. The card worked well until it started dying over Christmas break. I love the AMD and ATI cards, but I can't afford one because of car troubles. I would love to win this and replace my unstable 3850. Reply

I don't really NEED a GPU. But I have this decent build which is held back graphically by an outdated card. I got my current GPU from the trash bin at work when I built my rig about 1.5 years ago. Obviously it's not a gaming GPU so games are out of the question with it. I did try to run 3DMark a few weeks back. I think 3DMark reported me to authorities for using their product in a non-advertised way. I stopped PC gaming back in the early 2000s when I started working in high school. I really only had time (and money) to keep up with console gaming. So I've been doing it ever since. I was never one who got their kicks off pixel counting, seeing lighting effects, or watching hair follicles flock in the wind. Mainly I didn't understand the tech.

But now I've graduated (EE and CPE) and have some time, more cash, and a better understanding of computers. The appeal of PC gaming has slightly come back to me. I'm still a console gamer for the most part, but I'm trying to get back into PC gaming. So I know what you're saying, the R7 250 really isn't going to blow my mind. I would need the 280/290x for that. But I feel the entry-level-ness of the 250 may be a good place to start. If this doesn't pan out (which I'm not holding my breath, because it's almost like a shot in the dark) I'll probably pick up the 265 later this month.

So what would I use this for? I would get back into some PC gaming. I would add another monitor to my current setup to increase the count to 3 (since this card supports it with Eyefinity). Those extra 2 monitors will make working from home so much easier. If it gets me excited enough about PC gaming again, I'll probably upgrade this to something better and use this in my HTPC.Reply

I have a pretty power efficient mini-itx box with SandyBridge i7 CPU, and a GTX 460 in it. Whole desktop idles around 45W. The only game I play is TeamFortress2 and I think this AMD card will do it while sipping little power. I often monitor my power usage and think my desktop is pretty good at it as it is now, but lower power usage would be always better.Reply

I currently have an i5-3570k on a Gigabyte GA-Z77N mini-itx motherboard. 8GB ram. Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD. All housed in a Fractal Design Node 304.I had bought these parts for a quiet and small machine with the ability to overclock. I found it wasn't needed to overclock and don't care for the extra heat and noise.

I was hoping the onboard hd4000 graphics would be sufficient for some gaming, but unfortunately it isn't up to par. I have been reluctant to get a video card because of power and heat constraints in a small case.

The Radeon R7 250 would matter to me because it wouldn't require an extra power cord, it will fit in my case, it should be fairly quiet, it has hdmi out, and it will be good for gaming at 1280x720 (and some 1080). These are all important to me.Reply

A research project necessitated a CPU upgrade almost two years ago (the entire system has since been replaced). Now i have and Phenom II x4 paired with onboard HD 3100 running ,very infrequently, as a HTPC (socket AM2+). The R7 250 would be a great upgrade to allow gaming this system at 720P. This is the point of this entry level card right, as an upgrade for older hardware which will only collect dust or worse without an appropriate upgrade.Reply

I've had maybe 10 ATI/AMD cards fail in a row. I *need* you to prove to me that I *can* get a good one, before I can trust your cards again.The needing system is using a slow outdated integrated Intel graphics after the OEM AMD card failed, and the replacement that I bought kept crashing Windows (but it can also be placed in a new built, if you have anything against the old one).Reply

The ASUS Radeon R7 250 would be a great fit for my 5yr old HTPC, which is more of a family workhorse PC than a strictly media PC. It is used as a DVR, media PC, light gaming rig, web surfing, photo editing, and anything-else-we-can-throw-at-it PC. It was built as a DVR, but has assumed all the other roles because of the convenience of it being connected to our main flat panel TV. The current configuration is holding up, but I have had power issues in the past (due to the limited power supply unit), which makes the power saving features of this card very attractive. I also popped a couple capacitors on a previous video card (I’ll never buy that brand again) so the ASUS Super Alloy Power feature is reassuring, and the added cooler operating temps are an added bonus. I also appreciate it taking up one slot in the case, as I have limited space in the case, and it would allow room for expansion as well as improve all around air flow. All in all, this would be a perfectly well rounded card for what I would use it for.Reply

I have a media center PC with a Clarkdale Core i3 using the integrated graphics. This is fine for viewing media, but I'd like to do some Steam Big Picture gaming and those Intel graphics just ain't gonna cut it. A Radeon R7 250 would be a big boost, and would likely not add too much heat and noise to a system that needs to stay relatively cool and quiet.Reply

My current setup is a small form factor system with a 65W Trinity A6, no discrete graphics, and a low-wattage PSU.

I'd be interested in better graphics for gaming, but any GPU which requires an additional power connector is out of the question- my PSU doesn't provide such a connector, the 12V amperage would exceed what the PSU is capable of, and even if I replaced the PSU with a 350W+ SFX unit, cooling the PSU and the card would push the thermal limitations of the case.

The R7 250 is low-wattage enough and cool enough to work in this system, and the upgrade would make a large difference for gaming (from the benchmarks I see, it looks like the R7 250 is a little over 3x as fast).

I have been thinking that later this year I might replace my current motherboard and CPU and get the A8-7600. If I do that, using the R7 250 for dual graphics could give me a further boost.Reply

I have an aging XP (Media Center edition) HP desktop with an aftermarket graphics card.. it's been so long since I've worked with it that I can't even tell you what brand it is. It glitches out and needs to be re-seated every once in a while. A new one would be great!Reply

I currently have a HTPC that's about 3 years old as of 2/22. The machine was built with the GA-880GMA-UD2H MoBo from Gigabyte. The onboard video has been acceptable up until now. I recently upgraded to a Blu-ray drive and now i've started to notice my display struggling a little (I've had to switch to a basic theme instead of Aero to get better performance). I've been looking at several cards and I'm a huge fan of AMD and I believe this card would work perfect for what I'm trying to do. Also would be interested if I would gain from the ATI Hybrid CrossFireX that my MoBo supports. Thanks for the consideration!Reply

This would work great in a secondary gaming system I currently have. It's a Core2 Duo E6400 overclocked to nearly 3GHZ, but it's paired with a positively ancient Geforce 7950 GT. I'd love to post about how an $89 upgrade improved my gaming experience. This card would bring the GPU performance inline with my CPU performance.Reply

I am looking to gift this to my boyfriend. He currently owns an i3 2120 3.3 ghz, 4 gb ram,2 gb ati radeon 6670 graphics card. The system is getting old and the current ati card has really served him great. Reading about this card has really peaked up his interest in getting one :)Reply

My current desktop graphics card is a Nvidia 9500 GT. Only going on 6 years, I think. A R7-250 would imbue some new power into a Core 2 Duo system and merit using it less frequently as a headless system. Put some of my Steam games to actual use, maybe?Reply

Hi, I'd love to win one of these cards. I'm a gaming father and frankly don't have a lot of cash for upgrades. My current X4 940/3GB DDR2 rig would be a great match for one of these, and as it happens my old 5830 just bit the dust (literally). Been a member here for around a decade. Thanks!Reply

I can use a video card replacement because I have reflowed the sauder on my eVGA 8800GTS (640Mb) at least six something times now over the last couple years and now as of the other night it has died on me again. :\So I could totally use a replacement! Another cool giveway - sweet guys!Reply

Now I do not have much experience with computers, but currently I am running with a Geforce 9500GT with 512MB of RAM and an 800Mhz(GDDR3) clock speed, so this would definitely be an upgrade for me. I would probably get a new CPU and RAM (currently have AMD Athlon II X2 + 3GB), but that would be a modest price to get better performance with this card, which I'd be using to game with. Good luck to everyone!Reply

I rescued a system after my aunt got a new PC when her hdd went bad. I wanted to fix the machine up and give it to my brother. He used to game, but hasn't in a while. He is still rocking a computer I built for him almost 10 years ago. My brother recently showed some interest in playing Max Payne 3 so I bought it and Portal 2 for him to get him back into the swing of things. I was going to use my recently replaced AMD/ATI 3850 (I got myself a 7790 late last year), but a R7 250 would be faster and quieter whilst using less power, I'd think.

Here's my deal: I used to upgrade my gaming PC every two years, but after I got married five years ago money's tight and the upgrades stopped coming: I'm still running a Radeon 4850 with a Phenom 9600. If I win this card it will be enough to kickstart an overdue upgrade. I would pair it with a Kaveri and see if AMD budget systems still deliver.Reply

I just upgraded to an Asus A88X-Pro with an AMD Kaveri 7850K and would love to try out Dual Video and see how it effects BF4 as well as Photoshop CC. I'm currently in the middle of correcting a lot of old family album photos and would like to see if OpenCL can save me a lot of time. Thanks for the contest!Reply

I would love this as an upgrade to my aging HTPC. I am using an AMD Athlon II x4 with 8GB DDR2 memory. I am using an aging Radeon HD5450 to supply video to my display. I find that Blu ray playback is not optimal, whether playing back the disc or an iso file. Makes the HTPC unusable for blu ray playback. This should be a great upgrade for this aging PC. Reply

This would be a perfect card for a small form factor, low-power system for the living room. Enough power to run A/V tasks and provide a gaming experience that is on par with the new generation of consoles. I would say perfect for a small form factor steambox, but I don't think I'm ready to become an early adopter of that OS yet.Reply

Need to upgrade the kid's computer since they are finally starting to play real games. If I had a nickel for every time I heard them complain they were lagging, I'd be able to buy them a new PC! They're currently running the onboard Intel video on the i3 CPU which is the HD 2000 I think.. ick.Reply

I "need" this card because I just purchased a new PC in a Zeus mini case from Cyberpowerpc (will be here today actually). It has shared video (bleh, was trying to keep cost low) and this card would fit in the case with no problem. Reply

I just updated my computer with one of the new Kaveri chips (the A10-7850k) and would love the opportunity to see how it stacks up against friends with Intel-based builds. I also would love to move into more intense gaming, but with a micro-ATX case, I do not have the room to fit a dedicated higher-end graphics card, meaning the R7 250 would be a perfect way to boost my performance.

I would love to break into the world of tech reviews by winning this card then giving an in-depth review. While I work as a freelance writer now, technology is so much more interesting than most of the work I have done to date.Reply

I'm not a gamer but an avid web surfer. I'm interested in how this would enhance performance through app acceleration/hardware acceleration of browser(s). I have some extra components laying around, an Athlon II 270 and 880G board that together with this GPU would make, I believe, an effective platform for my uses. Thanks.Reply

Right here. Got an nVidia in an HTPC I built many moons ago. Back when cat was in the cradle, my boys played the simple games - Minecraft, Terraria, etc. Now they're begging to play the big boy games, the Arkhams and the Civs, but their Dad is too cheap to part with the $$$ for a current gen card. That's my new-toilet money, man.

I have a LLano SFF box I built myself running Windows 7 with no GPU. I'm about o upgrade to an i5 setup with a discrete card so I can put together a hackintosh build, dual booting Mavericks and Win 7 so I can do content creation on the Mac OS and gaming on the Win 7 install. This card would be perfect for that type of setup, and as far as I can tell, is fully compatible with a 10.9 hackintosh build.

My personal setup has an Intel Core i5 4670k, paired with an MSI motherboard, 8 GB of G.Skill ram, and an MSI GTX 760. I love my rig and I don't have a personal need for the 250, but I've been looking into building an HTPC for my parents to use and the R7 250 looks like it fits the bill; small, not too power-hungry, but still powerful enough for video gruntwork. I'd love to give it a shot in a system.Reply

The reason i would like to win this card is, mine broke a year ago. I was using an ATI Radeon HD3850. I miss playing Crysis, Crysis Wars, Word in Conflict and The Witcher. I used to play these at 1440 resolution or lower if needed on medium/high settings. The AMD R7 250 seems to be a good card to replace the HD3850 and put me back on gaming. The R7 250 may considered low profile, but it packs a lot of power against the HD3850. The AMD R7 250 surely will revive my gaming rig and for the better, it will enable my rig to newer games.Reply

I have a somewhat dated system (4GB of ram, GTS 240, along those lines) that has a graphics card without an HDMI output, and I'd love to play around with a cheap GPU that can output to HDMI--a budget card like this seems like a good fit, please enter me in the contest.Reply

I need one because I am budgeting my resources. I have an old core 2 duo and an old nvidia GT 240 without SLI. I missed out on a few generation so, I think its time for an upgrade? EH? I am a student living in my friends place and in the library. I watch them get get gaming and I don't understand all the inside jokes about the latest games they play. I am only watching from the sideline. I do my 8 hours grunt duty all day working and go to school at night. I can barely afford gas. I had my GPU always flake on me in the past. I tried to play Diablo 3 and it was a no go. It sucks. The direct x 10 is killing me. I can only play old games. I got a ticket for parking in a yellow zone after i tried to make it to my finals on time. So, Im out 75 dollars. And this is the price of the card.

I desperately need a better card. I may upgrade to a semi decent card once i stop feeling down about the ticket.

Hi, I have a HTPC with a Phenom II 955 with a motherboard with built in graphics, so the graphic power of system is currently very low, but my kids are coming of age to start playing video games. I would like the card so I could get them into video gaming.Reply

Apparently no one has read the entry requirements! Just posting a comment WON'T ENTER YOU.

Don't laugh, but I'm using a Xeon pulled from a server farm sometime before 2010 with 8GB (DDR3 a least) and a Radeon HD5830! I keep resisting the urge to upgrade because I don't want to lose the productivity that the lack of ability to play anything at a reasonable resolution gives me. However, if you give me this video card I will cave and be unproductive for a bit. I think I'm the perfect candidate for this budget-level card, as anything more costly would be a waste upgrading my system.Reply

My vid card is one of my major bottlenecks, it simply does not perform well with recent game titles. I once was able to run most game titles on highest settings even while I would have multiple browser tabs open, photoshop, other design software running and sometimes even a movie playing on the second monitor ;). Now days It has a hard time running just a couple game clients at the same time. It's definitely time for an upgrade.Reply

My current configuration is a phenom x4 with a recent upgrade to an ssd. Where I lack is a graphics card. The r7 250 would be the sweet spot for breathing life into my aging system because of its low wattage (no need for a new power supply). I dual boot with Windows and Linux. With the r7 250, I would finally be able to play my Steam games on both Windows and Linux (I've been waiting for gaming on Linux for years now). I considered building a new Kaveri based system, but based on r7 250 specs, I can get better gaming performance for a fraction of the cost of a new system.Reply

My current setup: i7-3770K, 16GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB and HIS IceQ H787Q2G2M Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition. As you can see, my biggest obstacle to top-notch gaming performance is my video card. It's not bad of course. But I currently play quite a bit of Battlefield 4 (1920x1080 @144hz). The current Mantel driver doesn't support my card fully. I run the game at about 35-45 fps at Ultra settings. But I'd really make use of that card during big in-game clashes. Right now I'll dip below 30 in heavy action. And it's a definite negative impact on my performance. I built my system on a tight budget from scratch over 1 year. I bought the card early on because I knew that would motivate me to save and complete my build. It worked. But I'd really like to see what my system could do given a card like the Radeon R7 250. Thank you.Reply

I have built a small ITX rig (for portability to lan parties) not too long ago (and also serves as my main rig) and is using a FM2+ motherboard (however not Kaveri CPU). Since I was very tight on the budget, it runs on the integrated graphics. Thus, an R7 250 would help quite a bit in gaming performance and the form factor would be perfect to fit in it. And I would hope later on that I would be able to purchase a Kaveri CPU when there's a deal and Dual Graphics/CrossFire it for additional performance.Reply

I built my PC about 2 years ago after running a Phenom II x4 995 BE and then about 2 weeks ago my motherboard gave out on me. I'm actually happy that happened, I always wanted a small gaming setup and it happened at just the right time ITX boards became little gaming monsters.Please help me make my little engine that could PC into a little engine that steamrolls the competition away.Reply

A little over a year ago, the motherboard of my main rig (an OLDer HP tower desktop) decided to fry up a little breakfast one morning. Since that time I've stayed connected pretty darn comfortably with a Samsung QX410J notebook I purchased to fill the void.

I'm a 50 something who (after being invited to reacquaint himself with the care-free whimsy of a single lifestyle) decided to also reacquaint my youthful affection for really cool tech. In the process of stoking the embers of fascination, I decided that it was high time I plan my 1st home-build; a process still underway.

Somehow I was never seduced by gaming in any really significant sense, but thanks to a bit of available leisure time, the encouragement of my 18 year old son & some very well written gaming reviews, I confess to being intrigued by certain titles represented as standing somewhat apart from much of the genre; Fez, the Bioshock entries, L.A. Noire, Going Home, The Stanley Parable & the Portal episodes (of course) among any number of others. And from what I've seen presented as game-play previews, Watch Dogs holds the promise of being pretty tasty, as well.

I could & I would certainly use one of the cards on offer, but I'm not pressed by need. I'd welcome the opportunity to put such a card in service, but I'd be delighted to see it go to an ardent games fan who is, perhaps, a bit more pinched than am I. If the alternative appears to be a heinous troll given to disparagement of our fellow man ... well then in all good conscience, I'm Your Choice!Reply

I have a OEM rig as a HTPC right now, and would love to upgrade it. IT has more than enough processing power, but it only has a low end AMD graphics card at the moment. Would love to see how this can improve my performance.Reply

I currently am running off of an Intel on board graphics card and sadly run games that I CAN play (LoL, TF2, WoW, etc.) on lowest settings in order to play with minimal graphical lag. I've been meaning to upgrade for awhile but as a struggling college student, it's difficult to place money into something like PC gaming. I could definitely use this so I'd be ever thankful if I was one of the winners. Thanks for the giveaway! Reply

I'd love to replace my aging 8800GT with a modern, lower power card. This would bring the benefits of reduced noise and power draw, and a cooler more efficient system. I'd use the GPU for light gaming at 1680x1050, watching and transcending videos. Reply

If I win this it would go into a low-powered home theater pc (E-450 APU based machine) that records and plays back OTA TV via Windows Media Center to boost the GPU capabilities of this machine. If not that I would upgrade the E-450 APU based motherboard to a higher performing Intel or AMD low-powered CPU/APU and install in that.Reply

I had originally planned to go with a Kaveri APU (thus saving the cost of the discrete GPU), but seeing this contest, and given that I yet do not have the Mobo/APU purchased, I can make the switch to allow for an R7 (I don't know whether this part would play well or at all with A8/A10 in crossfire, so instead I go with the cheaper/faster CPU if the GPU is going unused anyway).

The whole OMG AMD reason too is that with the Xbox One (which I own) and PS4 using AMD parts, my brain is currently in "OMGAMD" mode.

Also, as per part 2 of this contest, should I win one of the cards, my response would probably have to wait a couple months until I can afford to put together the rest of the system and actually do some gaming on it.

Lastly, I mostly plan on putting this card through it's paces with FFXIV. The P7805U pushes around 40 fps with all detail low at 1024x720 windowed, and playing even in "Normal (Laptop)" at 1920x1200 (my laptop's native resolution) brings FPS way down to 15 average.I'd like to be able to play this thing on the TV at 1920x1080 on at least "High (Laptop)" with smooth frame-rate.Reply

Current system is 6 years old with the original video card still plugging away( a Radeon 1600 with 512 MB memory). Could use a little boost and give me a chance to fool around with some basic online gaming.Reply

I'm running an older AMD microATX build. I built the computer years ago on a strict budget, but with a clear upgrade path in mind. About 18 months ago I upgraded to 4 gigs of memory and the highest wattage processor my motherboard will support. Then over the following 6 months I continued to replace components with an eye towards higher performance. I added an aftermarket cooler for the CPU, to try to gain the max overclock within this small case. More efficient, controllable, quieter fans replaced the stock offerings, and at one point a low price 80plus psu replaced the older less efficient unit.

I've always done my gaming on consoles, but in the last few months, with the advent of the Xbox One and Playstation 4, I began to think about using this computer instead of making such a huge investment on a PS4 or Xbox One. So an R7 250 Radeon GPU would allow me to game on my computer for the first time, and to purchase game titles via Steam.

I have a older HP LCD display on which to game, although I may just output the video to the big screen television.

I am a good candidate for being won over to computer gaming instead of continuing on consoles because I am eager for more complexity and depth within all aspects of gaming. I long for the ability to interact with deeper more immersive worlds such as those offered by the varied MMORPG titles, and to experience the subtler nuances of controlling a game via mouse and keyboard instead of the confines of a console controller.

I have both a Kill-A-Watt meter and a decibel meter, with which to provide relative before-and-after metrics of power consumption and sound.

Finally, I'm an articulate person with experience communicating succinctly. I have been an avid reader of Anandtech and Tomshardware for years now, since I first spec'd and built this computer. I believe I'll be able to answer whatever questions Radeon may have for me in clear and precise language. Reply

I would like to win this for my work. I use my PC for scientific research, namely simulating neuron and its synapses. My current box at work has a blazing fast hexcore xeon but is fitted with a paltry radeon 4670. I'm currently reading up how to harness the parallel properties of GPUs to run these simulations. The R7 250 would be perfect for my uses since it has significantly more processors than the CPU, but at the same time, my process is not that parallel that it'd take advantage of all the additional processors on a higher end card. Reply

I'm looking to build a small console box running and AMD APU, leaving it under the TV for emulators and light gaming/party games. An AMD r7 250 to crossfire with an APU would make for a great addition to the system, letting me play a bit more moderate game titles in the living room without having to stream from my main PC.

It'll also allow me to have a second rig to play guild wars 2 on, something desperately needed for the misses.Reply

My present system contains an older 460 that creates a significant amount of heat. My sons remind often during our gaming sessions that I need an updated video card to be able to compete with them. I would be glad to give this card a review.Reply

Although this card wouldn't fit with my main system (Phenom x4 960T and HD 6850), which I do some gaming on, it would fit with a couple of other systems that I use. One is used as a music server (Pentium E5300 and Radeon X300), and the other is a backup system that I make use of when working on other computers for moving files to temporary storage and for swapping out parts when trouble shooting (built around an early core 2 duo processor, an E6400).Reply

I could really use this card, my current system powered by a Q9400 with its GeForce 8600 is really getting long in the tooth. Trying to play World of Tanks and World of Warplanes in particular has become difficult, trying to obtain a decent visual image and maintain performance. I play on a 19" LCD with 1280x1024 resolution, not very high compared to a lot of today's wide screen displays.Reply

I'd like to try out this card since my Nvidia GTX 550 seems to be failing on me and it's only a matter of time before it's done. I love to play PC games and MMOs but right now my finances are tight so I've just been tolerating the glitches from my current card. I have Windows 7 64 bit with 12GB ram and an AMD Phenom II quad processor. Eventually I want to upgrade most of my system but that's not feasible at this time so winning a Radeon would make me very happy. =)Reply

This would be a perfect addition to the htpc in my living room. It is a small mini ITX chassis with an sfx power supply, so it is currently using the integrated graphics on a Haswell i5 until I find a suitable video card (specifically one with low power consumption, a quiet fan and a single slot bracket). I had been looking at a 7750, but this would be even better.Reply

I have two machines for the kids that have Core2Duo Processors on Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P boards with 8 GB RAM. They have 550 watt Corsair power supplies and NVidia GTS 250 graphics. Would like to upgrade them at some point. Curious how the R7-250/AMD onboard graphics Crossfire setup would work.Reply

I could certainly use this since I'm planning to put together an A8-7600 based system. I already have the Cooler Master Elite 120 case and motherboard, just waiting for the processor and affordable 2133 or 2400 MHz RAM.Reply

My Win7 media center PC has a water cooled AMD Phenom2 at 4Ghz on a ASUS 790GX motherboard, 2x 120GB Intel 330 SSD's in RAID-0, 16GB of CL7 1600Mhz DDR3, and a 80+gold 700w PSU. Only sore spot is that it's still using my trusty HD 4850. Would love to get this thing upgraded to a modern DX11 GPU for improved gaming and media processing. Kinda funny that it would be quite an upgrade even though is has less then half the Stream Proc's and half the memory bus. ;-)Reply

I have recently lost all items of value due to my extensive gaming habit. The great spirits have given me the gift of technology. But it seems to be a deadly curse. I have become a total slave to my computer and have had to sell my house, my children, both wives and all my cattle.

I just recently bought an old PC from a friend and one of the only low-quality pieces in it is the old graphics card that he used only for WoW :/ Despite the rest of the PC being relatively nice, I need this awesome graphics card to be able to run any current-gen games.Reply

As a serious PC gamer, Ive used ATi cards going back to the AGP X1300. Ever since then Ive been with ATi and using mid to high level performance cards. I currently use a 4870X2 card because of how well it performs. Id like to review this card to see how the new ATi cards handle games and applications.Reply

After being unable to game on my laptop for years, my brother finally built me a PC, but he said he couldn't afford much so he put an old graphics card of his in there for now and now all I need to complete my gaming PC is a decent graphics card.Reply

My current system runs an fx6300 clocked at 4.3ghz a Radeon HD 7770 running eyefinity 5760x1080 on 23 inch asus moniters. G-Skill Ripjaw 1866 9-10-9-28. Powered by a Corsair 500w power supply. I would love to get the video card, not for my system, but an addon to my girlfriends computer, so she can game with me. Might possibly become the basis for a full AMD computer build for her.Reply

Getting read to do a new build to replace my 7 year old gaming rig. There are so many different video cards to chose anymore it would be nice to try one out before buying, or at least have an idea of what is new. My current card is a ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2. It has served me well, but getting messages that my video card does not meet specs for the new games.Reply

I just recently built my 63 yr old mother a new computer using the A10-7850k to replace her aging PC and so that she could play Skyrim with my little sister. and while the system seems to handle it fine. I would love to test the dual graphics aspect of the Kaveri cpu.Reply

I would start benchmarking this and comparing it to the APU I'm currently using. Then, being a budget system person, I would see about overclocking later on. Then after that I would look into another to see about crossfire performance. Aside from that, this APU still doesn't cut it for some games, nor simple video rendering, performance wise.Reply

i want to win cause im using a phantome 410 case with thermaltake 600 watt psu a corsair liquid cpu cooler with a amd phenom ii x4 8 gb ares ram a asus m4a785-m mobo and a gtx 480 gpu i would love to win this to play some games in ultra settingsReply

The R7 250 would be the perfect complement to my budget Mini-ITX build. The PCI-based power means I can save a fair amount on a PSU, and with the dual graphics from an A10-7850K, any loss from lack of power would easily be made up. Plus, low power means low heat, and noise/heat is always a major concern with Mini-ITX for me. Reply

I would love to do a review on how well it mines compared to the GTX 550 Ti, looking at the AMD Radeon R7 250 Specifications I am pritty sure it is going to be a good little miner for its price :) Reply

this card would be incredibly useful to me. As an avid AMD fan, owning their cards made since my first computer in 2004, now with my current dual crossfire HD 6900 setup, I would be a perfect AMD labrat! I have spent extensive time testing the limits of my current cards but now unfortunately they are beginning to lose the ability to keep up with current gen gaming. I would love the chance to test the new mantle capable r7 250!!!Reply

I'm currently running a AMD 6870HD, would love to try a newer card out and see how much it may improve my current 2 yr old build. I'm not sure this particular card would be an upgrade for that set up, however I am gathering used parts as I replace them and putting them in a rig I'm building for my son.I so far have his build under $200 vs my $2000, He's only 3 though so I got some time lol.Reply

I have an AMD Phenom 965 BE, 4GB of 800 mhz ram and an EVGA 8800gts 512. I could really use this card as it would be a pretty substantial upgrade over my old 8800 gts 512. I game a lot with my friends and my 8800 gts 512 is really starting to show its age. Reply

So you want to know what I would do with it? I've had this idea for a while now to make a pc inside of an old xbox console. I have most of the stuff picked out for it and this would go great with in the box. Just waiting for my return to get the stuff to put into the box.Reply

I simply love AMD. I'm using the quad-core FX Zambezi quad-core along with an old (but gold) Radeon HD 6750. I've had the 6750 for a few years now and it has been nothing but good to me allowing me to do just about anything graphically demanding, but recently I've noticed some sign of the card beginning to die. :'( The R7 would be a MAJOR boon to my system and a nice replacement for my heavily used 6750. :)Reply

My sons comp has 2 evga 9500 GT, set for don't LOL sli. When we had this built for him, it was thought they were able to handle sli, but nope they were't. So a lot of the new games he wants to play, he has lagging Fps below 30. Reason I decided for him to buy these was due to low power consumption, so we don't need to buy a newer power supply. The Oland arcitechture and the lower cost for card make it a excellent choice for upgrades. My sons computer is in need of a video card upgrade. My sons are 16 and 10. They play a lot of different games and have issues with Fps causing them to fuss and lose a lot due to older vid cards. Thanks for the chance to win this.Reply

I'd love to review this, the testing would be inside a fully functional Arcade Cabinet. Currently building an AMD based PC for the Cabinet So this would give me a nice upgrade and some cash to save in my pocket for food.Reply

My current set up is AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Processor 3.3GHz, XFX Radeon HD 5750, 8 GB GSkill Ripjaw Ram, 600gb storage, 700w Rocketfish power supply, Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H motherboard. Why I would want it is because I have been a loyal AMD/ATI user for a while and have had a hard time trying to upgrade my card. It is very old in computer years, like 2-3 years but any one I can find that is an upgrade costs more then I can afford. I have always found AMD to be more reliable and better performance for the money, and their interface is so much more user friendly. I play games like Ghost Recon, Battlefield 4, and Left 4 Dead series mostly, unfortunately my card is having a hard time with BF4 with freezing and overheating :(. Please choose mehhh :) ty.Reply

Hello! Im in the processes of building my own steambox for the upcoming OS, currently I have all components for this build excluding the cpu, which will end up being the A10 7850. Im super excited to run some tests and see what the APU can do, but i would be even more exited if i could also test the crossfire capabilities with the r7 250. it would be cool to see if the on board+discrete graphics make a viable mid range system, which by the looks of independent benchmarks they will. anywho thanks for the consideration, and im sure that either way i will be happy with the builds performance. keep up the good work amd! Reply

Well, I'm currently doing all my gaming on my sub $100 rig. It consists of an A6-6400k, a 10 year old hard drive, and a bunch of parts taken from a broken computer. I can't play any modern games, because this apu is kinda crap ( no offense AMD). I'm stuck playing at 800*480 and low settings to make it playable. I would gladly review one of these and have fun using it and over clocking it.Reply

I've got an AMD system but I have an old NVIDIA 9600 gt in there right now, so this card would actually be a significant upgrade. I'd love to see what 6 generations of improvement can do with the same TDP. Also: AMD. Whoop!Reply

Like many techs in the private market I'm faced with dealing with XP's demise. I have a lot of customers who use CAD as a hobby and scrape by with aging systems and mediocre graphics, simple 2D stuff mostly. I'm looking for a decent substitute to Intel HD chips and this might just be it. Reply

I have a G3420 dual core processor with 8gb of 1866 ddr3 ram and a Samsung Pro SSD with a modest power supply. The r7 250 would be perfect for my system as my system is basic and needs only a moderate gpu. I will use this GPU for games and school work as I am currently learning to program FPGA's with XILINK ISE Design Suite. I want to add that the G3420 is an awesome CPU for $70, and the integrated graphics is more than capable for basic 720p gaming. Reply

I just upgraded all of my parts except my GPU and it's killing me. Right now i'm running a GTX 650 with an AMD Vishera 8-core and 16gb of RAM, but the GPU is bottlenecking me and I would love to run a full AMD setup finally. Reply

I'm working on building myself a budget computer (using the helpful advice of the Anandtech crew of course) to get more horsepower than my old Turion X2 laptop can provide. Currently have a case and power supply, and a GPU would mean I'm only one mobo bundle purchase from a working computer!Reply

I could use this in a build I am doing for a friend of mine based off of the a10-7850k apu ... I would love to have the hands on bench difference , and I'm more than certain that they would appreciate the performance boostReply

I'd like to see how well this card can handle being in a HTPC with madVR video rendering. My current video card is doing an okay job, but I'd like to see if the R7 250 can handle higher settings. Aside from using it for movies and TV shows, it would also be used for some light gaming. Not necessarily new games, but games that have been out for a year or two.

My current HTPC setup uses an old AMD Phenom X3 with 4GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 4850 running Windows 8.1.Reply

At the moment I am am running a athlon x2 5600 with onboard 6100se graphics. It is good for diablo 2and other 2d games but not 3d games.

I also have an amd phenom x4 955 with mother board and case that a friend gave me but no gpu.I was going to get a 7770 but a r7 250 will do, Use will be for playing games like dungeon siege 2 and torchlight1 and 2. .Reply

I have an asus Essentio from a few years back and the invida card in it well fired so im using onboard atm with make me unable to game on it so im taking a break from pc gaming and playing Xbox was trying to save for a new card but now im having a baby so thats now happening so if I win I will be able to rejoin the 'master race' of pc gaming Reply

I have a few systems around the household which are still using integrated graphics. Unfortunately two of the three can only take low profile. The third one can take this card, but it is using an AMD A10-6800K APU, so not sure if this card is all that useful to me. It can Crossfire with an A10-7850K, right?Reply

I am planning to use the R7 250 in my custom built PC which I use as a secondary PC for light tasks and light gaming. It has a e6300 Conroe CPU overclocked to 3.20GHz has 4GB DDR 2RAM and a 64GB SSD for Windows and Office.

This computer flies, and makes me wonder why so many people feel they NEED a modern CPU when they really only get one because they can.

Currently I an using a Radeon 4530 and it does great in this system on low res. I am also a big fan of "scaling" (black bars around image). It makes low resolutions look natural instead of stretching them out across the screen.Reply

Currently have an HP desktop with Intel integrated graphics. I play a lot of wow due to the fact its one of the only games that will run well. I would like to play many of the upcoming games. I even made sure the stock PSU would support an independent card if I ever upgraded. I would be more than happy to test one of these cards out.Reply

My only computer at the moment is unfortunately a 6 year old laptop with dead slow integrated intel graphics. I do some freelance web development and video editing, and it would be great to get a hold of a card that can perform OpenCl acceleration. Since this would be a fresh build, it'd be fun to use a Kaveri APU and check out the Dual Graphics setup.Reply

Was looking to replace my aging 5830 with a 7770/90 when I lost my job. I'm currently running my Sandy Bridge i5 2500 system with all the components you'd expect from right when that era hit. The R7 250 is a little lower than I'd probably normally go, but the price point is roughly in the area I was looking at before I became unemployed ($100-120). My PC is my primary gaming system since I haven't owned a console since PS2, so obviously not falling too far behind in graphics is a good thing. Anyways, would be nice to win this, especially since I have more free time on my hand at the moment!Reply

I would love to win this card so that I can replace the onboard graphics with something a little more beefy. I would be using this in my living room PC that currently only has the intel HD4000 - its pretty weak when we try to stream 1080p videos over the network, and can't play games at all. There are a few games I would love to play on the TV instead of the office computer, and the R7 250 would be perfect for those. One i can think of right now is Dungeon Defenders, since I use the Xbox controller via USB anyway, and I dont have another console. I don't like the lock-in of consoles, so having a better video card would let me do some way cooler things (XBMC & Steam games) from the living room!Reply

Current system is several years old using an intel qx6700 and a Radeon 6670. I used to be a nut but don't have the money to upgrade hardware as often as I'd like anymore. My daughter and I use the computer for games, and some picture and video editing. For a 6 year old, she's quite the little gamer, and it's something that we enjoy doing together, so that's what the new card would be used for.Reply

I am currently using a Q6600 with a GTX460SE with 4gb of DDR2 a system that is starting to feel a bit long in the tooth even at 1680x1050. Based off the previews I've seen I could use this and pair it with one of the new Kaveri chips to build me a new low cost system that outstrips what I have by a decent margin! Especially if Mantle adoption spreads as well as the ability to use the Kaveri and this in a dual graphics setup pans out as well as hoped!Reply

I am currently repurposing a dell studio 540 as a dvr\pvr box to record OTA shows. The original video card died and the R7 250 would be great for playback of video. I have already put an older pinnacle HD tuner card in the machine for capture duties, and just need to source an economical video card to complete the machine hardware wise.Reply

I run the i5-2500k with iGPU graphics, which is much better than my previous machine in both CPU and GPU performance. Any modern Discrete graphics card would still be great. I the most obvious benefit will be lack of the video playback stutter (a well known issue) and perhaps cranking up the resolution and detail levels on the few games I run. Also my MB has the Lucidlogic Virtu chip which I have yet to experiment with.Reply

I just built a new computer this past week. Casual gamer, so I wanted something that can run modern games well, but within a rather tight budget. Built a mini-ITX machine with a Haswell Core i5 3.2 Ghz, 8 Gb memory, Asus Z87 motherboard and some drives left over from my old machine: 120 GB SSD and a 1 Tb Western Digital Green HD. Plus, my old video card, a Radeon 6850. So, the video card is a bit older, but I couldn't really justify dropping an extra $100+ USD on a new one. This R7 card would be a nice upgrade, and the smaller card size would fit the ITX case better than my full-length card.Reply

first ati card was a 9800 it rocked... i still have it hanging from the ceiling of my workshop, along with several other video cards.only 1 is an nvidea, i think of it as the "toaster" noisy and HOT,,just call me a ati fanboyReply

This weekend I just got an A10-7850K with a micro-ATX board from microcenter (awesome deal for under 150 w/tax!). I thought about getting an R7 too to try out hybrid crossfire, but I wasn't sure it would be totally necessary, and figured I'd save the money and give it a go with the integrated graphics to see how the performance was. This box is mostly going to be pulling HTPC duties, so mostly just local content playback and streaming, but I would like to play games on it as well. I'd like to think I'm a pretty good candidate for a free R7 250, so I'd be happy to tell you my comments if I win!Reply

i want to put this in an HTPC to do some higher quality scaling than with a base level GPU, maybe some mild/casual gaming, and test out Steam In-Home Streaming, too (one spare computer i have is just a single core Athlon 64 setup)Reply

I have been looking for a really low budget system to build upon as my first build. I have gathered around A10-7850K, ASRock FM2+ MB, 8GB RAM, PSU, SSD and I run it in an open air case that I build with a canvas. I would love to have this GPU in order for me to see the dual graphics performance in addition to trying out the recent AMD beta driver. Furthermore, I can try out Mantle since I also have a copy of BF4 laying around. Thanks for reading :)Reply

Hi,We have started gaming more often on our living room PC (rather than hulu/netflix)It's currently an AMD athlon dual core with a Geforce 210.The TV is 1080p but I have to run most games at 720 or below with the settings all turned down a bit. The case is an tiny Antec Aria so it needs to be a smaller card like this.Reply

this is perfect for what i need, soon i will be building a system for my girlfriend for her birthday since her laptop is a lost cause. Im using a miniITX build with an intel i3, asus miniITX mobo, bitfinix protegy miniitx case, and a 430w psu. i planed on going with like a 260x since she doesnt need a super high end gpu but the 250 would be perfect and it would help with my wallet since im about to do a job change and will be low on moneyReply

My current build is rapidly creeping towards obsolencence. Any slight push towards future tech would be highly desirable! Especially when the only expenditure would be equivalent to words describing the performance gain.Reply

I built my first PC in the past year. Wanting to know what I was getting into, I bought my first discrete graphics card, HD 6570 with GDDR3, for a 4ish year-old Asus desktop with a Pentium E5300 processor, Asus mobo and 6 GB of DDR2 RAM. I decided I would build a new computer but ended up doing it in phases. I upgraded the CPU to a Core2 Duo E8400 and the PSU and bought an Asus HD 7850. It was definitely an improvement, but the 7850 was under-utilized by the Core2 processor. (Now I have an FX 6300 running two 7850s). I would like to see how this card, with its faster clocks and memory, runs with the Core2 Duo compared to the HD 6570. Reply

I Currently have a late 2011 mac mini (sandybridge). I need to build a new PC and a R7 250 could make it possible as the card is the biggest chunk of the cost of a system next to the CPU or APU, Or I could put it in a system with a core 2 and replace the ATI 5000 series cardReply

This would be a great board to upgrade the PC I have in the den for better gaming. It is a mATX build with a Q6700 and 4G of memory but needs a better GPU for gaming with low power for noise and cooling and no AUX power. The R7 250 looks to be a really good match.Reply

I WANT this card to use in a mini Itx or micro atx HTC / middle range gaming computer on the big screen as a desktop becomes less relevant for me.

I NEED this card for 2 reasons: 1. as a father of two small kids, my only gaming opportunity is in the living room late at night or early morning. I miss PC. 2. I just paid off my wife's and I first vacation ever, not to mention without kids as a surprise birthday present for her (bucket list trip to see Outkast on the beach) and I have no cash for my own projects like this.Reply

My daughters computer crashes 15 minutes into StarCraft II with some bizzare behavior that appears to be video card related. I've tried everything short of replacing the card. I'd love to give this little card a shot at fixing an ongoing thorn in my side and compare it to the current card.Reply

I currently own the fastest-1 65W trinity part with an asrock mini itx (FM2A88X). 4GB of DDR3 2166 and Samy SSD. I was having issues with MSI mobo, 78 chipset. Love the asrock board and AMD APU. Mostly a gaming rig on steam. Nothing too demanding. When I originally purchased I thought of dual graphics but support was lacking. Memory limitations and only certain commits supported.

Sign me up! Can't really try this kit out as I understand dual graphics for R series is kaveri only right? Also prefer reviews months after release after driver maturity has peaked. Reply

I need one as that I have a pc with a 300w power supply, and I hear this is the best card I can get without having to upgrade the power. As that I have a Radeon 7350, the R7 250 would be a lot better! PLEASE help by letting me win :)Reply

I am an international student doing my Master's degree in Engineering at Purdue. I have lost my 4 year old laptop (my only computer) and I am looking at my options for buying a new computer (highly tilting toward a desktop). My thesis involves image processing and control systems and thus a good deal of processing. My application (cannot reveal because of IP issues) needs me to be as real time as possible. Thus parallel processing is an avenue that I have to completely exploit for this. This is where AMD graphics card kicks in. Most of the heavy duty work will be done on the systems in the lab but I need something to work at my home too and I am on a very tight budget. This card will help me get a computer (which is most likely to be an AMD powered one) with good raw processing power on a budget. It would be a dream come true, if i get the Card....

PS: The potential system I am looking at is an AMD FX series processor and 8 gigs of RAM (My application needs to be light weight as well, so I cannot use huge amounts of RAM). I got a 19 inch monitor that they were replacing at the university for dirt cheap price.Reply

This would actually be for a build I would be doing for a friend who is currently playing WoW on a laptop with integrated Intel graphics. Planning on doing a build with a new Kaveri piece and being able to get a dual graphics option here will be great for her to experience the new character models and get the full experience in time for the upcoming expansion.Reply

My current setup is a home-built Core 2 quad Q6600 running Windows 7 with on-board video that I've got hooked up to my TV that I use for video streaming. Winning an R7 250 would finally let me play some games on my TV as well. Having an R7 video card matters to me because I want a card with Mantle support so I can take advantage of gaming optimizations in the future.Reply

The reason I would like this card, is that my girlfriends son has a hand me down computer. The power supply in the computer is only a 500W, and I currently have a GTX 260 in the computer. The video card is ok for some games that he likes to play, but he really wants to try out Battlefield 4, and his current video card just wont work. I have been an Nvidia guy for over 10 years now, but the new Mantle API has me greatly intrigued, and I would love to be able to give him a card that would allow him to play Battlefield 4, and also test Mantle myself, so I could look at replacing the video cards in my other 3 computers (Mine, Girlfriends, and my GFs other son) with AMD.Reply

I'm currently running a fairly high powered main rig with an AMD Radeon 7950 and Intel i7-3820 on an EVGA x79 SLI board. The reason I'd like a R7 250 is that I don't always need this amount of power and I want to convert my storage server into a capable, low-power storage server/HTPC that can handle my media needs without having to power up my main rig. I'm currently using an old WiFi enabled blu-ray player for my media center, but it has an absolutely horrible interface and very bad/limited apps for internet streaming and I need to replace it. With some minor tweaks and a decent graphics card (R7 250!) I could set up a great little HTPC to handle all of my needs.Reply

I need this to test my Indie Game that I'm developing. I'm building a box to test the Linux/Windows port of my game on real hardware (instead of my current VMs on OS X), and I still need to get the graphics card. You can try the pre-alpha versions of the game for free to see that I'm not kidding: https://spacedonuts.comReply

I spent all of my money on Japanese language classes and now I can't afford a new graphics card. But before I spent all of my money on Japanese classes I spent most of my money on a new AMD 7850k, 16 gigs of ram, and a mobo. That computer is begging for a graphics card. One that I can play video games on and speak Japanese! It will be so much fun. I will speak Japanese to you if I win.Reply

THis would be a great addition to my HTPC running an i5 with 8GB of memory. I'm currently using the integrated Intel video which is lackluster at best. Adding this card would allow me to bring some light gaming to my living room and improve video playback overall. Also, the card should allow me to enable RemoteFX. My HTPC is Windows 8.1 with the Hypervisor installed and running a couple of VMs. I believe this will allow me to take advantage of the Microsoft Android RDP client for some gaming but that may be wishful thinking on my part.Reply

I'm currently revamping a system I built for my little brother in 2007. It runs a a core 2 duo e4500 with a radeon hd 2600. I'm popping in a core 2 quad 6600 and I'm looking for a budget card to put in the system. He's not an extreme gamer, but I'd like to make him something that's capable of playing most modern games. The r7 250 is a good choice, mostly because of its low power requirements. The power supply is seven years old and I'm afraid that if I plug in something that uses too much I'll blow the supply.Reply

I currently have a system built around a Gigabyte mini-ITX motherboard and an Intel core i5. It sits in my home theater rack as a combination media PC / gaming system. My current card, a Radeon 5770, is on its last legs. The fan on full load is beginning to screech loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the stereo and I would love the chance to update it with a newer / faster card while reducing the heat in the system at the same time.Reply

I'm doing an upgrade for my daughter on a limited budget. I was thinking of relying on Intel integrated graphics but really want a discrete card. She likes to write and create art with a Wacom Bamboo as well as play Skyrim and Sims.Reply

I currently am running an old 5770 in my gaming computer. I have a Llano A8 processor and was in the market for a processor upgrade. I would love to run this in dual graphics mode with a brand new Kaveri processor. Reply

The computer that my kids are constantly playing games on is running an old Radeon HD 4850. While the card is still viable for most low-end games (the currently love Lego Marvell Super Heroes), it could certainly use a bit of a boost to keep that system running smoothly as their tastes mature a bit in the next year or so. The fact that it's also a low-power card works nicely with the 400W power supply in the computer. (I was nervous about running a 125W processor with the 4850, but it seems to be working so far.)Reply

I would like this graphics card for a home theater build I have been thinking of creating. I want to use a ITX motherboard with a small case with two open expansion slots so I can add in a card like this one. I have most of the parts I need but this would be a welcome addition since it supports HD Audio output and 4K as well as 3D output. Reply

I use Windows Media Center for all of my programming which includes OTA HD, and Cable via an HDHomeRun Prime. I also use this machine to play Blu-ray discs using Arcsoft Total Media Theatre. The current 5670 his hooked into my Onkyo receiver using and HDMI connection.

I'm interested in comparing this new low cost card to my 5670 and also plan on testing it in a new i3 based system to see how it compares to the integrated Intel Graphics.

I am looking for something to that can handle all my media center tasks, as well as allow me to play a few older games. All in a fairly quiet and low power package.Reply

Dear AnandTech Team: (This is my FIRST POST, you all do a great and unprecedented job!)

I built a new computer in Dec 2012, after squeezing the life out of a 2003 system with only 1 memory upgrade and 1 video card upgrade. Longevity was my goal, and I took every bit of pride from shocking people during on-online games that I was running on a single-core AMD-whatever at 2.1 G-hurts. The pride turned to frustration as wait times for mundane internet usage and on-line play turned into whole fractions of minutes. This new system was built with 4 aims in mind, Apple-tier specs (at the time), 6-8 year longevity, Low-power consumption, and living room use with TV (read: no cable, DVR or console) for netfilx / bluray and some light games. HD 4000 kicks things around ok, but not when it comes to games and it's glitchy (flickering problems) with my dual TV and computer monitor set up. Additionally, if Ultra res. gets anywhere in the next few years, i'll need something to float a 4k video or two over for (future) TV use. I have absolutely no money to spend on a video card right now I would really find good use out of the power efficient R7 250.

I would compare / constrast a few games' frame rates, CPU temprature (as the HD4000 would be deactivated), power-efficiency, functionality and ease of installation incl. software - all with some pics. Thank you for your consideration, and all the best.

Reason: I moved to the states recently to get married with my current wife. Rook the 10 month paper maze to get a greencard for the states. with the greencard im finally able to travel back to my old country to get my pc to the states and at arrival back in the states my gfxcard has come losse during the flight ad the gpu core got chipped >.<i need this bad so i can get out of gaming on my slow laptop

I've been trying to save money for a new build for so long now. This gpu would be a great start. My current system is:I7 920Intel dx58so2 amd 5770Samsung 120GB 830 series ssd3TB in hdd storageAll in a cooler master 690 caseDefinitely starting to show it's age, especially with power consumption.I would probably use this 250 in a sff htpc/steam box and slowly upgrade my current system while using it as a personal server to try out the new steamos game streaming. I've had a seasonic gold rated psu and 16 gig ddr3 kit for over a year now in anticipation of a new build.Thanks for this opportunity Anand and AMDReply

Since I've gotten SC2, I've been unable to play it in all it's glory, this card would replace the nVidia I currently have, and restore the game to it's original experience, just in time for the latest expansion too!Reply

I would love to build a new PC to replace this aging beast that is having numerous issues. It often fails to boot, let alone it appears the HDD is going bad; it's on it's last legs. Definitely should have built a desktop instead of buying this laptop, the difference in longevity is huge.

I was planning on building a new budget PC with this years tax refund, even going so far as to set up a build on pcpartpicker after hours of research. But unfortunately, my refund was much smaller than my usual (I'm currently unemployed) and the funds are going to the necessities, such as food and clothing (we have two boys). When it rains, it pours.

Even if I did win this contest, I don't think I would be able to afford to build a PC. So I think I would be disqualified due to the contest rules. Reply

I currently own a system with only an A8-7600 APU. I have been looking to upgrade to take advantage of the Crossfire between the discrete graphics card and the APU. To my understanding the R7-250 is one of the best cards for this setup. Getting this graphics card would greatly improve my system performance and save me some money! Hope I win!Reply

I'm rather confused by the contests here as well. How do we find out who won (or even if 'we' won). There is nothing posted in the article or in the comments regarding the winners, so how is it possible to reply within 3 days (which is today) if we don't even know if we won?Reply

This video card will be a perfect compliment to my son's machine currently using integrated graphics. I promised a video card upgrade for him (the computer is brand new with an i3 4130/HD4400 Integrated) for his acceptance into college. His machine has a proprietary power supply (Lenovo TS140 server) without PCIe power headers, so an R7 250 is perfect as it can get all its power thru the PCI BUS. Looks like he will be accepted and get a scholarship - just waiting for the letter. He wishes to go to school for 3D Modeling and game design, and has won awards already for his 3DS Max work. This video card will also help with that.Reply